Let's do the time warp, again
by Mrs. Owl 09
Summary: Lucas is thrust into a world filled with demons and monsters. He must find out what is happening before he is killed. Rating it T for cursing and what ever random stuff I happen to toss in.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: I don't own anyone or anything from SeaQuest or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Takes place in season 3 of Buffy a bit after "The Zeppo" but before Faith goes evil. The only change is Willow has more power. For the SeaQuest part, the endish of season two but I tend to mix everyone up as needed.**

**And Joss Whedon is my master…**

* * *

The seventeen year old blonde boy hit the ground with a thump and a groan. He didn't know why he was on the air to begin with, and he didn't know where he landed, but he did know he hit the ground very hard. He raised his head and looked around. "Grass? I'm up-world? When did that happen?"

He peered through the darkness, dimly lit by the setting full moon, and tried to comprehend where he was. He saw several stones of different sizes around him and a few structures. With a chill, he released he was in a graveyard. The odd thing was, most of the stones near him looked brand new. There were very few new graveyards around, there just wasn't space for them anymore and most people couldn't afford to buy plots in them. The remaining ones not protected by historical societies, had fallen into disrepair or had been dug up for housing space.

He stood and took stock of himself. Minor headache from … something, and a sore shoulder from landing. "Ok, I can deal with that. As soon as I figure out where the hell I am." His blue eyes narrowed in the darkness. A few trees, flowers, and many many gravestones. "I have no idea where I am. Damn it." He noted some street lights in the distance and made his way towards them.

The young man only made it a few feet when something very large came out of the dark and rushed him. He scurried backwards in an attempt to escape and only managed to trip over a stone. The figure looked down at him and pressed the point of a blade against the other's exposed throat. He laughed gruffly. "Well, that was easy. Almost not worth my time."

The boy didn't move and only stared back in shocked horror. His attacker could only be described as a monster. The aggressor was tall and… rather green. He had scaled skin with spiked ridges on the top of his head, and way too many sharp teeth. "Are you a G.E.L.F.?" He asked in a shaking voice. "I have a good friend who is, he's the prototype. You know, the first one. His name is Dagwood." The youth was aware that he was babbling but his mind was panicking and his mouth didn't seem to be connected to anything helpful.

"Hi big green scaly guy!" A perky female voice said from behind the monster. "What'cha lookin at?" A petite blonde teen girl peeked over the stone the boy had sprawled behind. "Oh, you don't wanna eat him. He doesn't look like he'd amount to a very good meal. Ya know, skinny."

The monster began to huff with rage at the interruption. He charged the girl and took a wild swing. She easily side stepped it and delivered several fast round house kicks to his midsection. He jerked back with a pained grunt. "You will pay for that little girl."

She rolled her eyes and snorted, "Yeah, I've heard that before. But I've never seen it actually carried out." She ignored his sloppy jab and returned with two of her own. "I thought you M'Fasknik guys were mercenaries. You kinda suck at your job you know." A sword flew out of the darkness and she caught it easily. She hesitated before swinging it, "Aw, I ran out of cute things to say… oh well." She swung and the monster's head separated from his body. She tossed the sword down and looked into the darkness.

The teen boy was finally getting up after watching the exchange. He didn't understand what was happening here but he knew someone had just died. He started walking backwards quickly to distance himself from the very scary scene in front of him. He walked into something hard, when that something draped an arm around his chest, he knew it was a person. He gave a strangled yelp and tried to break away. "Easy there, I just want to ask you a few questions kid."

He was released and spun around to see the new threat. It was a tall, muscular, good looking, dark haired man. Oddly, he had a very concerned expression on his face. "I… I just want to get out of here." The boy stammered. "I won't say anything about the G.E.L.F. I swear."

The small female wandered up to them. "What's a gelf? Is that some kind of demon?" The boy's blue eyes widened in shock and confusion. "I probably shouldn't have said the D word yet…" She made a face. "Any idea why that guy was after you? De… uh… fighters like him don't come cheap, someone must be pretty annoyed at you." The boy only shook his head still looking terrified.

"I think he may be in shock, he has an injury to the back of his head and I can smell some kind of medicine in his blood. Why don't we bring him to Giles?" The man said from behind them. The confused young man flinched when the older male placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on kid."

"I… I'm not a kid." His defiant tone was making a comeback, despite the situation. He choose to ignore the strange comment the man had made, it was too much to handle right now.

"Ok then…you, I'm Angel, this is Buffy." He pointed a thumb at the girl. She waved and smiled after picking up the sword.

"Ew, demon gunk. Maybe I can con Xander into cleaning it." She said thoughtfully.

"I… I'm Lucas… Wolenczak. Where am I? And are you going to kill me?" He started to prep himself to run but knew it probably wouldn't do any good.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Are you human?" He nodded slowly while swallowing. "Then you're good. Come on, it's almost daylight."

"I'm ok with daylight." Lucas said, he looked around at the graves, "Very ok with it. Oh, wait." He pulled out his PAL and clicked it on. "Captain? Commander Ford? Can you hear me?" There was no response. "I must be too far away. Can I use your vid-link? I need to get in contact with my ship."

Lucas expected the incredulous looks from people when he said he lived on a UEO sub, but these two looked more worried than amused. "Ship...? Please don't say space ship…" Buffy pleaded.

"What? No, why would I live on a space ship? It's a sub. The SeaQuest." He got a blank look from both, "You know, from the UEO fleet?" Another blank look. "Great…" He muttered.

The sun choose that time to rise. Buffy gave a warning cry just as a ray touched Angel's arm and he hissed in pain. Lucas got a full view of his vampire face in the smoke and took off running in horror. He wasn't sure what he saw, but it wasn't good. "Angel! The mausoleum!" Buffy shouted, he was already a few steps ahead of her and ducked into the cool darkness. "I'll get the run away." She grumbled.

"Shit… Shit… Shit…" Lucas chanted as he ran. "What is going on?! This is crazy." He tried to watch where he was going but since the sun was still rising, the shadows were long and deep. His foot landed on a flat stone hiding in the grass and his sneaker slipped. He only had time to swear one last time before his head cracked down and everything went black.

* * *

**Author's Note: This is my first cross-over so please let know what you think! And I'm good with comments about editing if you see something, thanks.**


	2. Chapter 2

Rupert Giles didn't look up when Buffy walked into the library carrying Lucas. "Patrol go alright?" He asked, sipping his tea. He heard her grunt and glanced up. "What's this?" He stood and walked over to the table where she gently placed the boy.

"I don't know, a M'Fasknik demon was trying to kill him. We were trying to question him but the sun came up and Angel had… a bad reaction. Blondey here saw vamp face and freaked."

"Understandable," Giles said, examining him. "Minor head injury, he shouldn't need a hospital."

She nodded, "There was some strange babbling. But Xander's been knocked out enough times and never seems to have much of an issue."

"Speak for yourself Buff." Came a groggy voice from behind a shelf.

She grinned at her disheveled friend as he pulled himself into a standing position. "Oz duty?" She asked and nodded her head at the book cage. There were several towels covering the bottom half and she could see bare feet poking from behind one of them.

"Yeah, and I'm waiting for doughnuts." He said rubbing his dark eyes and running a hand through his short mussed brown hair. "Will should be back soon with them."

"Mmmm, sounds good but I need to check on Angel after his tan this morning. And I want to visit Willy's bar, he may know something. I'll be back." She started to leave. "Just keep an eye on him. We should really ask him some questions." She paused, "Oh, he said his name is Lucas… Wal… something."

Giles nodded and waved at her retreating back. He had pulled some rubbing alcohol from his office, and was dabbing the wound on the side of Lucas' head, he also placed a pillow under his blonde head. "An M'Fasknik demon? What did you get into?" He asked the unresponsive boy. Turning his head to the side, Giles noticed a small incision on the back of his skull. There were several stiches holding the skin together and it looked a few days old. "If you just had a surgery, the head trauma could be much worse, young man." Giles murmured in concern.

* * *

Lucas was aware of the voices around him. The side of his head stung and the rest was throbbing painfully. He tried to make sense of the conversation through the pounding.

"So what do we do with him? He's on our table." A young male voice asked.

"Leave him there until I am sure he's not badly injured. I suspect you can eat your doughnuts standing, Xander." An exasperated British voice answered. Lucas heard a squeaking noise and wondered if someone was cleaning a pair of glasses.

"Hey! It's sugary yummy time ev… Oh! Who's that?" Another voice entered. This one was female and sounded hesitant and jumpy. "Oz didn't get out did he?"

"No, Buffy found him being attacked by M'Fasknik mercenary this morning. We're waiting for him to wake up so we can ask him why." The Brit responded.

Lucas could smell fresh bakery and despite his attempt to ignore it, his stomach growled. "I don't think that happens if you're unconscious." The female voice said, sounding amused.

Lucas opened his eyes, "Ok, I'm awake. Busted by pastry…"He muttered darkly. He tried to sit up and was overcome with dizziness. "Ug." He put a hand to his head and promptly stopped moving.

The older man with the British accent laid a hand on his shoulder. "Slowly, you've been through a lot." Lucas nodded and tried again.

This time he successful enough to sit upright and had the chance to check out his surroundings. To his surprise he was in a library. There was a teen girl and boy watching him. The boy was devouring a doughnut. The older man, who still had his hand on Lucas' shoulder, was wearing a tweed jacket and looking annoyed at the other boy. "You are dripping filling everywhere Xander. And that better not be the only jelly."

Xander had the decency to look ashamed and swallowed. "No, there are a few of them." He turned to Lucas. "Hi, I'm Xander. Want a doughnut?"

The blond youth nodded and accepted it gratefully. If they were feeding him junk food, the chances of them killing him were a little less. "Thanks, I'm Lucas." He took a bite and made a happy noise in his throat. "Um, where am I?" He looked at the older man whom seemed to be in charge.

"Sunnydale High School, in the library. I'm a Giles." He also accepted a doughnut but wrapped it in a napkin and ate it delicately.

"I'm Willow" said the girl with the doughnut box and a large bag on her shoulder. She was small with red hair, she was wearing very flowery overalls and a bright yellow shirt. For some reason Lucas knew it was an outfit that would only work on her.

He nodded politely still trying to work out what was happening. "Sunnydale? Where is that?"

"California." Xander answered through a mouthful.

"California?! I was off the east coast of South America! How did I get here?" He asked the people surrounding him. They didn't have an answer for him and Lucas slumped looking depressed. "Oh!" He exclaimed suddenly. "That girl, Buffy? She needs help. The guy she was with turned into something. It was horrible."

"She told us, Lucas. That was Angel. She is no danger from him." Giles assured him.

"Well, right now she isn't" Xander interjected sounding bitter.

"So, he isn't some kind of monster?"

Willow set the box she was toying with on the table. "Well, yes, but not right now… um… he's good. Most of the time. It's complicated" she finished quietly, making a face.

Lucas digested the news and nodded. "Ok, I guess. Can I please use your vid-link? I need to get in contact with Captain Bridger."

Giles set down his breakfast on the tall desk behind him. "What is a vid-link? Is it a type of computer thing?"

Lucas' eyes widened. "You don't have a vid-link? Uh… how about a computer? I can hack into the communications of the ship and get a message through."

"Oh! Yes! I have my laptop." Willow said enthusiastically opening her bag. Lucas' blue eyes lit up, but his smile started to slip when he saw the chunky very old looking computer.

"Thanks," he mumbled doubtfully. He opened it on the table in front of him.

There was a metallic knocking sound behind the group. "I know the new guy is very interesting, but does anyone what to let me out?"

"Oz! I'm sorry. We were just doing the investigating thing." Willow said hurrying to the book cage and opening the door.

Lucas looked up in time to see a young man pulling a shirt on. He was going to ask why there was a half-naked student locked in a cage in the library, when he saw a face pop out of the neck of the shirt. "Wolfman!" He jumped up and started to run to the surprised couple in front of the cage. He skidded to a stop when Willow stepped in front of him and a purple ball of light appeared in her cupped hands. Xander was a step behind her and crossed his arms trying to look imposing. "Wolfman?" He asked again, weakly.

"Uh, I guess?" The confused Oz answered. "But I prefer Oz." He stepped around the angry looking red head. "I think its ok Willow, he's just confused."

She lowered her hands and the energy dissipated, but she still glared at Lucas. "I'm sorry, I… I am confused. You look so much like a friend of mine. But his hair is red, and long."

"Well, to be fair, it was red last month. But only for a few days." Oz replied with an ironic smile.

"So you're not a computer genius?" He asked with one last hope. Oz shook his head and Lucas sighed in defeat. He sat in front of the laptop again.

"Hey, they say everyone has a twin, I wonder if I'll ever meet mine..." Xander piped up, but was ignored.

Willow forgot her anger and looked at the upset teen with sadness. "We'll get this figured out, Lucas. Let me get you hooked up." She pulled a long cord from behind the desk and plugged in the laptop. Lucas watched skeptically.

He jerked away from the computer when he heard the buzzing sound. "What is that? Is it supposed to be doing that?"

"Oh, it's the modem dialing up to the internet. We have a really good connection here now." Willow explained patiently. She knew most people didn't have a good understanding of computers and didn't mind helping the boy out.

Lucas stared at her in shock before hiding his face in his hands. "Dial… up? Oh dear god… where am I?"

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**Author's note: I'll write as much as I can, but I just got promoted a few days ago. Yay for extra money and hours, boo for less free time. **


	3. Chapter 3

"That's actually a good question Lucas." Giles said from behind him. "Where are you from?"

Lucas looked up scowling. "I live on a sub. The UEO ship the SeaQuest." Giles didn't respond but gave a doubtful expression. "Here, I have ID." Lucas reached in his back pocket and pulled out a wallet. He took his identification card and handed it to the older man.

After only a few moments, Giles let out an understanding grunt. "Well, that may be the problem." He glanced at Lucas. "How old is this?"

"Uh, just a few months, why?"

"What year is this Lucas?"

Lucas gave an annoyed sigh. "2019. Why?"

Giles took off his glasses and handed the ID back. He raised his eyes to the others gathered around. "Um, you see Lucas. Its 1999 right now." The teens braced themselves for Lucas to panic. "It seems you've traveled through time somewhat."

"Oh? That again?" Lucas shrugged and went back to working on the computer. He stopped and glanced at Willow. "May I fix your processor? I can't get anything done like this. It's making me crazy."

"Well, um… You aren't going to hurt it are you?"

"No, I would never mess up a computer." He grinned and then rubbed his chin, "Unless it asked me too, but that's something different. I doubt _this_ thing could bend time."

"You've done this before?" Oz asked in surprise.

Lucas nodded and flipped the laptop over. "Yeah, but forward a few thousand years. A computer did this Mobius strip time thing to get us there. She needed help." He frowned. "Do you have a screwdriver? And have you seen my PAL? My uh, communicator? I can use the parts."

Giles retrieved a small screwdriver and the PAL from his desk. "Forgive me Lucas, but you don't seem very upset about this." He slid his glasses back on, watching the teen work.

"Oh, last night I was freaked in the graveyard. But I'm good now. I still want to find Captain Bridger and see if he can help though." He popped the cover off the computer and did the same with the PAL. "Great, this will be easy." He muttered to himself.

Lucas' attention was diverted when another girl burst into the library. She had glossy waves of chestnut hair to her shoulders. "Oh good, I knew you guys would be here. I need someone to check out this guy for me." She said all this without actually looking at the people gathered. "He's very gorgeous but weird, I think he may be a vamp… Oh, a new person. A very cute new person." She smiled and batted her eyes at Lucas. "Hi, I'm Cordelia."

Lucas' blue eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful girl. "Uh, hi." He cleared his throat. "I'm Lucas." He ran a hand through his blonde hair and angled his head while chewing his lip. He only had one good move to use on girls, but it had worked well in the past.

"Don't bother dude, so not worth the headaches." Xander said after clearing his throat.

Cordelia gave her ex a dark look, but Lucas only chuckled. "Well, I already have a headache so I'm not very worried."

The dark haired beauty laughed wildly at the mild quip. "Oh, you're so funny! Are you a new student?"

"Um, no actually. I'm… uh done with high school already." He flushed and looked away.

"Oh… a collage boy." Her smile widened. "That explains the grunge look, where do you go?"

Lucas looked even more uncomfortable and fidgeted with his flannel shirt. "I'm done with collage too."

"Extraordinary," Giles interjected, surprised. "You've graduated?"

Willow's face brighten noticeably. "You've been to college? What's it like? It is amazing? Did you have fun?"

"Will… chill a bit." Xander was watching the uncomfortable blonde boy, but misinterpreting the reaction. "He's just dealt with some scary Hellmouth stuff. Let him get use to knowing monsters are real."

Lucas snorted, "I knew that. Well, ghosts and gods at least… and giant crocs… and killer plants. Yeah, I knew."

"Wow, anything else?" Xander asked.

"Oh, there were the aliens too."

Xander smiled wildly, "I knew it!"

"You've met a god?" Giles asked, before Xander could continue. "Did you fight it? I'd love some tips if we run into something that strong."

Lucas started playing with computer again before answering. "Uh, not so much a fight, more like we distracted him and ran away."

"Well, this is boring," Cordelia huffed. "I believe we were talking before you all butted in." She smiled at Lucas again trying to get him on her side.

"Cordelia, this is important. You can flirt with him later." Giles admonished.

"Fine," she snapped before turning on her designer heel and storming off.

Giles sighed and took off his glasses again, rubbing his forehead, "you'll have to forgive her. She's… well, she's somewhat of an idiot." The assembled teens laughed in surprise. "Don't… don't tell her I said that."

"Lucas," Giles began again, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to contact your Captain." Lucas paused from his work to watch Giles as he leaned against the table. "Playing with time travel can have dire consequences. You may think a small change won't hurt anyone but it could disrupt the fabric of time, or simply change things for the worse."

"Is this where you tell me everything happens for a reason?" Lucas asked dryly.

Giles shook his head, "no, nothing that pointless. Let me give you an example… Xander I saw that look. You would do well to listen to this too. You may get sucked into a time vortex yet." Xander groaned but sat at the table to listen. Willow and Oz joined him, but actually looked interested.

"Now Lucas, I trust you know who JFK is?" Lucas nodded with a raised eyebrow. "Imagine if someone went back in time and pushed Lee Harvey Oswald out of the book depository window before he could shoot."

"The FBI would have tried again?" Xander interrupted. He was silenced with an annoyed look from the Brit.

"Some time after he died, it came to light that he had dealings with the Mob. Also that he was probably having an affair with Marilyn Monroe, who also had ties to the Mob. If Kennedy survived, do you think this country would have stayed strong with that situation? Or do you think it would have descended into chaos and ruin with organized crime controlling the government?"

"As it was, his death pushed civil rights to the forefront and most people think more was accomplished because of it." He finished explaining.

Lucas was nodding his understanding when Oz interrupted. "Wait… this seems very familiar. I saw that storyline on a Brit-com one night."

Giles blushed and crossed back to his desk. "Yes, well, the idea is valid no matter who said it first."

"So what you're saying is that I shouldn't contact Captain Bridger." Lucas ran a hand through his unruly hair. "And… if I know something horrible that will happen to this country in a few years, I shouldn't mention it?"

"How horrible?" Willow asked.

"Thousands of people died." Lucas answered darkly.

Giles sighed but shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

Lucas nodded and returned to the computer parts. "Ok, but I'm still going to get this working better… If you don't mind Willow."

The red head smiled, "that would be tremendously awesome."

Lucas didn't reply but instead started pulling the computer apart. Within minutes is wasn't recognizable as anything. The rest of the group watched in amazement as he put it back together with incredible speed. "Ok, I think that should do it." He flipped it back over and punched it on. "See what you can do with it." Lucas passed the laptop to Willow and stood.

"This is going to sound whiney, but I'm wiped. Do you have a couch or something I could crash on?" He asked Giles. "I might be able to get a hotel room, but since my money and my ID is from 20 years from now, they may ask some awkward questions."

"Oh, yes, Lucas. I am sorry. I should have thought about that. I'm sure you can stay with someone. It probably isn't a good idea for you to be alone with the situation. I'm sure who ever sent the first demon will try again." Giles answered.

Giles looked at Willow first, she was lost in her computer making soft sounds of joy. Oz was watching her fondly. Xander, on the other hand, was asleep with his head on the table. "Xander?" He jumped upright and blinked a few times. "Xander would it be possible to take Lucas home with you for the day? We'll continue our research and contact you when we find something. Hopefully, Buffy got some information as well."

Xander looked doubtful for a moment. "As long as you don't mind my parents' drunken fighting." He said flippantly.

Lucas caught the hidden tone and understood it well. "No problem, it will be just like I'm at home." He said, meeting Xander's eyes. Xander nodded, relieved he didn't have to explain more.

The two teens walked out the door together, "if they even notice you're there, the trick is to never make eye contact and answer in small words. They'll forget about you pretty quick that way."

"Got it."


	4. Chapter 4

Lucas couldn't help grinning when they got into Xander's room. It was a disaster. There were clothes strewn on the floor and a stack of dishes leaning against a desk, a tower of soda cases and random junk food stood at the foot of the bed. "Spectacular." He said with a laugh.

"Uh, sorry, it's a mess because… well it's always a mess."

"No, this is perfect, thanks so much Xander," Lucas answered gratefully. He crossed the room and was looking at the desk. "Whoa," he picked up a Spawn comic book. "Um, keep this one. Trust me."

"I was planning to anyhow, I keep all of them." A muffled voice answered. Xander was half buried in his closet pulling out a sleeping bag and extra blankets. "Um, I don't have a mattress or anything, but if you put enough under you, it should be comfortable."

"Alex! Damn it, are you in there?" There was an angry voice outside of the bedroom door followed by loud knocking.

"Crap." Xander muttered. He shot a look to Lucas, and motioned him to hide behind the door. Lucas complied with a nod. "I'm sorry man." He sighed heavily and opened the door. "Hey dad, what's up?"

Xander's father was dressed in a stained white undershirt and equally stained boxer shorts. His eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed. "I need you to get me beer." He slurred and lurched into the room. "I needed it hours ago, where were you?" He demanded angrily. "Your worthless mother wouldn't get it for me."

Xander sighed again and stepped back. "I was with friends all night. And I can't get you beer, you know that."

"What friends? Those damn skanks you hang out with? I don't know why you bother. Neither of them will screw you. You're too much of a loser." He laughed at Xander's hurt expression. "You've gotten me beer before. Go do it again."

"No Dad, I got you root beer, you were just too drunk to notice the difference. I wouldn't buy you booze even if I could." He answered, sounding braver than he felt.

His father took another step forward and grabbed his arm tightly. "What did you say you little shit?" Xander tried to pull loose, but the older man was stronger than him. "Don't you dare talk to me like that!" He shouted as Xander winced in pain. He took the boy's chin in his other hand and began to squeeze. Xander whimpered but couldn't escape his enraged father.

Lucas stepped from behind the door. "Hey, let go! You're hurting him."

Mr. Harris let go of his son and turned to see who was changeling him. "Who the hell are you? His new boyfriend? I always knew he was a pussy."

Lucas paused for a moment and decided to go all in. He stuck his hand out and smiled. "Hi, I'm Lucas. I'm from the future and there are monsters hunting for me. Your son and this friends are helping protect me until I can get back."

The drunken man stared at the blonde teen in shock before he started to laugh. "Damn boy, whatever you are smoking, sell some to my kid. He could really use a chill out." Still laughing, he walked out of the room and slammed the door.

Xander released a breath in relief and gingerly rubbed his chin. "Thanks for that. He… gets really bad when he doesn't get his damn alcohol." He walked to the bed and sat, looking depressed.

"Um, how often does that kind of thing happen?" Lucas followed him and sat on the bed.

"He normally leaves me alone and just goes for … Look, I really don't want to talk about it."

Lucas nodded and sat quietly beside him. "Um," Lucas tried to break the awkward silence. "So what's the deal with Cordelia? Is there history between you two?"

Xander snorted, "yeah, you could say that. We dated for a while. It was messed up, like massively messed up." He flopped backwards on the bed. "We were both to blame, but I'm the one who ruined it. I hurt her badly, I didn't mean to." He said sadly. "If you're interested, go for it. But I warn you, there is a lot of drama."

"I don't want drama, not after Sandra." He muttered. Xander arched an eyebrow at him. "She pretended to be in trouble and I went to save her like an idiot. I ended up with her gun pointed at my head while she tried to escape from the police. All she really wanted from me is the SeaQuest. I didn't live that one down for a while. Especially after the trouble I got in over because of Julianna." Xander could only grin and let Lucas talk. "She and her friends kinda talked me into hacking the World Bank. I stopped_ after_ I came to my senses and we're still friends, but Bridger was pretty pissed."

Xander started laughing, "oh man. Have I got you beat. Why don't we start with the insect lady who wanted to eat my head…"

* * *

A ringing phone woke Xander and Lucas up several hours later. "Hello?" Xander said half-asleep. "Yeah, ok. We're coming… um… No, no, that's ok. We don't need an escort… Fine." He hung up and glanced at Lucas. "Well, I guess they got some information for you. They're sending Faith to get us." He blushed when he said her name.

"Who's Faith?" Lucas asked, climbing out of the makeshift bed.

"She's a slayer like Buffy, but she's a little crazied."

"Um, yeah. I've been meaning to ask about that. What is Buffy exactly?"

Xander chuckled, "officially, she's a vampire slayer, but she'll fight anything that tries to attack humans really."

"Ok, how does that work? She is genetically engineered or something?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, no. More magic than science actually. Every generation a slayer comes along, they fight whatever evil horrible things are around until they're killed by something and then another one is called. Giles is her Watcher, they keep tabs on the slayers and teach them what they need to know."

"They fight until they die? That's… harsh." Lucas said, sounding troubled. "So where does this Faith come in?"

"Uh, Buffy died a couple years ago. Just for few minutes, but it was enough to call another. Well, she died, and then um… Faith was called." Xander blushed again when he said her name.

Lucas started to smirk, "so is there something going on b…" He was cut off by a knocking at the window.

Both teens spun around and saw a dark haired girl perched on a tree branch grinning at them. "And here we go." Xander muttered and opened the window.

The girl did a fancy flip and landed easily in the room. "Hey boys. What's the biz?

Lucas would have loved to answer her with something clever and memorable but he could only stare open-mouthed. Faith was dressed in skin tight red leather pants and a very small black halter top. Her dark red lips seemed to be able to reflect the light while sucking it in at the same time. Her dark wavy hair was effortlessly tossed and bounced with every move. Her mouth curved into a knowing smile. "So this is the time traveler hm? Very … nice." She cast a side glance at Xander, who was standing beside Lucas awkwardly. "We have some time before they want us at Scooby central. Maybe we three could have some fun together."

Both boys stopped breathing and their eyes widened in shock. They started stuttering at the same time. "I … but… what… crazy…how... why?"

Faith could have let them continue, but she started laughing too hard. "Geez, freak much? I was kidding." The boys exhaled finally. "Kinda."

* * *

The three young people walked into the library a short time later. Giles noted the boys looked very red faced and were quiet while Faith was laughing to herself. "Oh, good, you've made it safely. Thank you Faith."

Lucas cleared his throat, "what did you find out?" He crossed to the table and nodded a hello to Willow and Oz.

"Not much, I'm afraid. Buffy and Angel are going out after nightfall to find more, they are resting now." Giles answered. "Some of the demons in town mentioned feeling strong magics a week ago. That would be the spell that brought you here, I assume. We know that there is a human whom hired a few demons for magic work and protection. No one knows who it is or what they want though. If more than one demon was hired you are still in grave danger."

"But I haven't been here for a week and how do we know they'll be after me?" Lucas challenged.

"Dude, someone zapped you here from the future. I think you're a target." Oz stated.

Lucas sighed, "alright. I can accept that, but why me? And why here?"

"I think we need to know more about you to answer that. Please take a seat, this may take a while." Giles gestured to the chairs surrounding the table. "Just tell us everything you think will help, Lucas."

Lucas settled into the chair and took a deep breath. "Like I said before, I've finished with college. After I graduated, my father decided I needed a little 'discipline' in my life and he sent me to live on the SeaQuest. It's a large sub that concentrates on science and exploration, while helping people in need. I am the Head Computer Analyst, but I also help in the science labs. I pretty much do whatever is needed, I guess I'm well rounded… or something."

"How did you finish school so quickly?" Willow asked.

"Well, um… I'm really smart." Lucas blushed, "They say record breaking actually."

Everyone assembled looked impressed and regarded the youth with renewed interest. "What do you remember before waking up in the graveyard?" Giles encouraged him.

Lucas furrowed his brow, "I was going somewhere in the Stinger, a mini-sub I built with my friend Katie. I don't remember where I was going though. But if I was alone, it must not have been anything major. I… remember seeing something odd, like a whirlpool, but then… nothing. "He looked around with a helpless expression. "I'm sorry, I know that's not much to go on."

"No, that's quite alright Lucas. With your head injury it's to be expected. And considering the recent surgery you also had, it may take some time for you…"

"Wait," Lucas interrupted. "What surgery?"

"There were stitches on your scalp, and Angel mentioned you smelled of medicine. Did you not have a medical procedure done?"

Lucas' hand flew to the back of his head. He winced slightly as his fingers found the stitches. "I don't know what this is. Did someone do something to me? Did someone mess with my brain?"

* * *

**Author's Note: I've thought for a while that Xander and Lucas would have a lot in common and be friends if they had a chance, I had a lot of fun writing them and their awkwardness. I know this had been going kind of slow, I want to set everything nicely. **


	5. Chapter 5

Giles laid a calming hand on Lucas' shoulder. "We will solve this, I promise you Lucas." He looked deeply into the panicked blue eyes. "We will protect you and get you home." The young man nodded and tried to slow his heart.

"I uh… should go. If Buffy is looking for info, someone needs to be patrolling." Faith said, leaning against the desk. She had been quiet before and the others and almost forgotten about her. She walked to the side of Lucas' chair and gently put her hand on his. "These guys are the best. Trust them." She left without saying anything else and everyone looked at her with amazement.

"I can help you remember, but it may be scary." Willow offered. Everyone turned to look at her. "I found this spell a little while ago. It's to retrieve buried memories." She hesitated, "if they are buried though, there may be a good reason. Your mind may be keeping them from you to protect you from it."

"I'll do it. I want to know what is happening, I can deal with it." Lucas said sternly. "I'm not afraid."

Giles nodded, "ok, we'll prepare the spell."

"I'd love to help, but night is coming." Oz said standing. Lucas watched, confused, as he kissed Willow good night and proceeded to walk to the book cage. Oz pulled the door tight until it clicked and removed his shirt.

"What…" Lucas started, he was interrupted by horrible sounds coming from the cage. He jumped up in fright when saw the furry snout erupt from Oz's face. Lucas watched in horrified fascination as Oz completed his transformation. "Did that really just happen?"

The rest of the people gathered nodded, almost bored. Giles hadn't even stayed to watch and he reentered the room carrying a bag of supplies. These, he placed in front of Willow.

"Yup, for three nights a month, every month." Willow volunteered.

Lucas walked as close to the cage as he dared and peered at the growling beast inside. "Very cool."

"Um, Xander. Could you help me get more supplies while Willow measures those out?" Giles asked, walking back to his office, Xander followed without question.

Giles shut the door when they were both inside. "What happened?" He asked. Xander looked back at him, baffled, and Giles sighed. He gestured to a chair and Xander sat. "I can see finger shaped bruises on your face Xander, and the same on your arm. What happened?"

Xander's head drooped, "nothing. I'm fine."

"Was it your father?"

"I mouthed off to him. It was my fault." He mumbled.

Giles sighed again and lifted the boy's chin gently in his hand. "Do you want help?"

Xander shook his head. "No, I… I'm almost 18. After graduation I'll be out of there."

"I don't want you to stay at home tonight. I want you there as little as possible actually. I'm sure Joyce wouldn't mind if you and Lucas stayed with her tonight." The older man said kindly. "I'll call her."

Xander nodded and met Giles' eyes, "thank you." He stood and left the small office.

When they returned, Willow was mixing the spell ingredients together in a large bowl. There was a white candle burning next to her and Lucas was laying on the table looking nervous. "Ok," Willow said starting to pour the herbs around Lucas in a circle. She placed two crystals other either side of his head. "This will put you in a trance, I will be connected to you and I will be able to speak. You'll just feel like you are dreaming." She chewed her lip. "There… there's no way to stop this once it begins, even if it gets bad. You'll keep going until you remember everything. I'm sorry."

"Just do it." Lucas whispered tensely.

Willow used the candle to light the herbs and the smell filled the library. She began to speak in a low voice. "Mnemosyne, I call for your aid. Bring back the memories that are lost. Let us see, hear and feel the past." Lucas stopped fidgeting and his breathing relaxed. Willow repeated the incantation once more and placed her hands on his forehead.

She began; "I'm notified that I won an award for my work with Darwin. We discovered a previously thought extinct sea creature together. I have to go to Brazil to receive it. I don't really care to go but Captain Bridger tells me it's important. I'm alone in the Stinger for a few hours when my systems start acting oddly. It isn't anything life threatening, only my comms, I can get my port before I try to fix it.

"I see something in the water ahead of me and I'm trying to slow down but it's sucking me in. It's a whirlpool or vortex. It's spinning me around and I can't see anything. I think I'm going to be sick… it's stopping. There's no water around me! I'm on dry land in some kind of building. There are people… things surrounding me. They… they look messed up. Where am I?

"They're pulling me out, they're hurting me. They've put me face down on some kind of table. They're tying me down. I can't see anything but someone is touching my head. I feel… a pinch. Like a shot and my head feels numb. I'm screaming at them to stop but no is listening. I hear a laugh… it's familiar but I don't know who it is. Someone touches my head again and I feel blood dripping down my neck. What are they doing to me?!

"I'm struggling and hands hold me still. I know they are doing something to my brain but I can't stop them. It seems like hours past and it finally stops. They let me up but keep holding on to me. They take me to another room and tie me to a bed there. I sleep.

"I wake up and no one is around. I decide to try to get free. One of the straps on my arm is loose. I pull on it until I can get my arm out. I can reach the others and get up. I'm shaky, groggy, I feel strange, like I've slept for days. I try the door, it's locked. There is a window and I go to it. It won't open. I look out of it, I'm on the first floor. I get the sheet from my bed and wrap it around my fist. I punch the window and knock the rest of the glass out. I hear people coming and jump out.

"I'm running. I have no idea where I am. I see trees and head for them. Maybe I can hide in one for a while. I'm almost there, but something is chasing me. It's big. It doesn't look human. He catches up with me and holds me above above his head, he's mocking me at the same time. I start kicking and screaming. I kick him in the head. He throws me. I land in the grass. I try to go towards lights but he's there again. He has a large knife, he's going to kill me! And… and Buffy…." Lucas opened his eyes, and looked around. Willow, Giles, and Xander were staring back at him with worry.

"So they put something inside of me." Lucas said sitting up. He wrapped his arms around his legs and hunched his body protectively. "Why couldn't I remember all this before?"

"If they had you for a few days, they could have pumped you full of some kind of medication. That, plus the trauma, could cause your memory loss." Giles offered.

Lucas didn't bother responding but glanced up when Buffy and Angel entered the room. "Have you discovered anything?" Giles asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, normally when something big like this is going on, people know something. There's just nothing out there." She sniffed at the air. "Doing a spell, Will?

"Yes," Willow answered. "We got his lost memory back."

"It won't help anything." Lucas interrupted angrily. "I can't remember anything helpful. All we know is they dug around in my damn head." He immediately felt ashamed of his outburst. "I'm sorry. This is just… I'm completely out of my element here. I don't know what to do."

"Buffy, can Lucas and Xander stay at your house tonight?" Giles asked. "I don't want… Lucas staying alone and I think both of them could use some of your mother's attention…" Buffy tilted her head at him while trying to suppress a smile and Giles started to blush. "I… I mean… they um… need a mother." He retreated to his office quickly.

Buffy shook her head at the questioning looks she received from her friends. "You _so_ don't want to know. Come on guys, I'm sure my mom will happy to have someone she can fawn over."

Joyce was, in fact, over joyed to have the two boys stay with her. She didn't ask any questions from Lucas, only seeing the fear in the boy's eyes. "How about I order us some pizza and you two can find a movie to watch?" She asked them. The teens smiled happily and ran to the living room to begin arguing about movies. Joyce turned to her daughter. "Should I ask what's going on?"

"I wouldn't. Just keep them here." Buffy answered, she gave her mother a hug. "Thanks for this. I know not everyone mom would be thrilled if their daughter brought home two boys." She grinned mischievously.

"Well, if this is weirdest thing this week, I'll be extremely happy." Joyce said dryly. Buffy laughed and left the house. Joyce picked up the phone to call for food and shook her head at the sound of the boys squabbling.

Although Joyce ordered two pizza for all of them, the boys only got through a half before falling sleep. She took one slice for herself before putting it away. She tossed an extra blanket on each of them before leaving them to go upstairs. With her foot on the first step, she started feel oddly. She reached for the banister but crumpled in a heap. None of them heard anyone enter the house. They didn't see the forms lean over them. And the boys didn't feel it when they were picked up and carried from the house.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: This is going to get a bit more violent from here on out. Any guesses as to who the bad guy is yet?**

* * *

Faith slowly walked up the Summers house. She felt bad for making Lucas so uncomfortable earlier and hoped to apologize to him. After hearing his story, she knew she shouldn't be toying with the boy. She knocked on the door but got no response. The lights were on and she could hear the tv playing. She knocked again while opening the door. "Mrs. Summers? Lucas? Xander? Anyone awake?" She poked her head through the door but stopped in shock when she saw Joyce laying at the foot of the stairs. "Shit!"

She checked Joyce first and was relieved to find her heart beating strongly. Faith ran to the living room and saw the blankets on the couch in front of the tv. "Hello? Is anyone else here?" There was no reply and she ran for the phone, hoping Giles was still awake.

* * *

Lucas and Xander woke up at the same time. The morning sun was shining brightly in their eyes and they both grumbled and tried to roll away from it. This only resulted in them falling the floor. Both of them looked around in surprise. They weren't at the Summers' home anymore. They were in small white room with bars on the only window. They had both been sleeping on a cot bolted to the wall. The boys looked at each other and at the same time said, "The pizza was drugged."

The door opened and a tall red demon with face ridges came in. He smiled, revealing his large sharp teeth, he also revealed the pistol in his waistband. "Now that you are awake, the boss wants to see you." Xander and Lucas followed him out of the small room, seeing no other option available to them.

They were silently led down the hall way to a larger room filled with versus types of medical equipment. Lucas recognized it as the place he had been tied to the bed and operated on. He slowed and looked around fearfully. He heard a laugh and knew it was the same one from this memory. A woman approached and Lucas could only stare. Now he knew who the laugh was from. Now he knew who had taken him. "Stark." He whispered.

Marilyn Stark started laughing again. "Of course. Did you think I was dead? Did you think I wouldn't make you PAY!?" She screamed. Stark calmed as fast as she lost control and smiled sweetly. "This doesn't have to be difficult Lucas. No one, not even you, needs to be hurt. Do as I say and you will live a long and healthy life."

"Then let Xander go." Lucas said stepping between them. "He doesn't have anything to do with this. He's not even from our time."

Stark shook her head. "No, not yet. If you do as I say, I will consider it." She smiled again.

Lucas took a deep breath. "Ok, what do you want?"

"What I wanted the first time, to destroy the SeaQuest."

"But how? Why would you bring me and yourself here to get rid of the ship?" He asked, confused.

"Because, I have no power in 20 years. You can change that. You will create an identity for me and you will get me all the money I need. In 20 years, I will have enough power and cash to do what ever I want."

"But why would you care about the SeaQuest if you have money and power?" He asked.

"Why do you think? I want revenge. I want Bridger and Ford to pay, and you as well. If Ford hadn't removed me from command, I wouldn't have had to take out the ship. If you and Bridger hadn't stopped me, I wouldn't need to punish anyone." She responded coldly.

Lucas was shaking his head. "I won't help you kill my crew. You are crazy."

Stark only smiled, "maybe. But I have some tricks up my sleeve." She pulled a small device, not unlike a PAL, from her pocket and pushed a button. "Sit."

Lucas' legs buckled beneath him. Xander attempted to run to him but he was seized by the red demon. "How did you do that?" Lucas gasped from the floor.

"Stand up." Stark responded. Lucas' legs pushed him up again. He was shaking and didn't try to move, he didn't trust his own body. "Don't you like my new addition?" She asked.

"I... I don't understand."

Stark sighed, "is this where I tell you everything I planned? Don't be a fool. All _you_ need to know is that I have complete control over your body." Her face was full of malice and anticipation. "I can even do this: stop breathing."

Lucas felt his lungs seize up and the clutched at his throat. He seemed to have forgotten how to take in a breath. He looked to Xander desperately. "Stop! You're going to kill him!" His friend yelled.

The disgraced captain only watched the teen's struggles with amusement. "It will be done soon."

Lucas dropped to the floor at her feet still fighting for air. He began seeing stars and then only darkness.

"There, see?" Stark said triumphantly. Xander saw Lucas' chest start to rise and fall. "I can only control his body only when he's awake. But that was fun, maybe I'll try it again soon."

Xander started fighting the demon, surprising the red creature. A lucky upper cut caught him in the chin and the teen bolted to Stark. He snatched the small device from her hand and threw it to the floor. Driving his heel down on he was satisfied to hear the crunch. He braced himself for the blow he was sure was coming. To his amazement, she only laughed.

"Idiot. That only turned it on. All I need is my voice now."

"Oh, shit. Um, sorry?" Xander winced.

Lucas started to move on the floor. Slowly, he pushed himself up. "So you're planning to make me hack computers for you?"

"Well, the short answer is yes. But unfortunately I can't just say it and you'll do it. Hacking has to be done by your impressive brain, I only have control of your motor skills. You have to agree to do it, and you will." She motioned to the demon. "Mark, bring them to the next chamber."

"Mark?" Xander asked incredulously. "Your name is Mark?"

"Actually, I would have break your jaw for you to say my name properly." He answered. "I am willing to teach you if you ask nicely."

"No, no that's ok. Mark is a good name. It's a strong name. I may name my first child Mark." Xander back pedaled.

"Bring them!" Barked Stark, walking to the door.

Mark pushed the teens after her and she led them to another room. This one had tall ceilings and was disturbingly outfitted like a horror movie. There were chains hanging from a metal pillar and a ten foot tank made of clear Plexiglas in one corner. There were also two chairs complete with handcuffs. Stark turned to her captives. "Where shall we start?" They could only look around and try to hide their fear. "Let's start slowly, shall we?"

She pulled Lucas to the center of the room. "Walk to the tank and climb in." Lucas felt his legs move and soon he was at the metal ladder attached to the side of the large container. He climbed it and looked down. It was filled with water. "Climb in." Stark repeated. Lucas resisted with everything inside of him but he flipped a leg over the edge and dropped in anyway. He began treading water and took deep breaths, guessing what was coming next. "Are you going to help me?" Stark asked walking to the tank. Lucas looked out of the water spotted glass and shook his head. "Fine, stop swimming." Lucas sunk like a stone to the bottom of the tank.

Xander stood watching Lucas helplessly. He could see his face start to turn red and his frighten blue eyes were magnified by the water. Quickly he started fighting jerkily, he didn't rise off the bottom, but beat his fist against the glass. "Please," Xander begged. "Don't do this."

Stark ignored his pleas and smirked at the drowning boy. When Lucas' eyes closed and his body floated to the top, she finally turned to Xander. "Get him out."

Xander ran to the tank and jumped in. He pulled Lucas upright so his face was out of the water. He couldn't lift his limp body out, so he started pumping the water from his lungs. Lucas began to cough and sputter, latching on to Xander. "What are we going to do?" He whispered.

"Survive." Xander said grimly. He helped Lucas out of the tank and followed him.

"Now, lets try again." Stark said. "Will you help me?"

"Go to hell." Lucas coughed.

"FINE!" She screamed. "Mark, chain them." The demon backed the boys against the pillar and quickly manacled them with their arms raised above their heads. Stark walked to a corner and dug around in a box. She out pulled two large sponges that were attached to wires. "Now, have either of you boys seen the Lethal Weapon movies? There's something I've been _dieing_ to try..."

* * *

**Author's Note: I know, I'm being a jerk. But she's crazy and mean, what do you expect? **


	7. Chapter 7

Giles was pacing the length of the library. "Are you nearly done Willow?"

"Yes, I just need a few more minutes." Willow was carefully mixing herbs in the same bowl as she used the day before. "I… I don't want to mess this up."

Faith sat on the desk jigging her leg nervously. "When is B coming back? I need to do something. I can't just sit here."

"When she's done at the hospital with her mother." Giles answered.

"Ok, if everyone will stop moving around me, I'll get this done faster!" Willow snapped. It was so out of character for the normally quiet girl, all motion stopped. "Thank you." She said sweetly. There was a map of Sunnydale spread out on the table in front of her. She slowly poured the mixture from the bowl on to it, and the grains of herb and sand gathered in different places. "Ok, we can see everywhere magic was used in the last month. Here is the library, "she pointed to a medium sized pile. "And all of these small piles are just households… hm, and the theatre… is that why that terrible play got so popular last week?" Everyone stared at her. "Right, concentrating now. There, near the college, that pile is larger than the one we created. I think there is an old factory there. They must be there."

"Good job Will." Faith said jumping up. "When do we get to pound heads?"

"We need to wait for Buffy. I would be happiest if it was nightfall as well, so Angel can help." Giles grimaced at the thought of needing the vampire but he knew it was for the best.

"They could be dead by then." Faith argued.

Buffy walked through the swinging doors. "Are we ready? I want to get these bastards."

"Buffy! Is Joyce ok?" Willow asked, clearing the mess her spell had created.

"Yeah, she only got a small dose but it was a strong sedative. She doesn't remember much though. What do we know?"

"It looks like they are in a factory by the college. We need a plan, we have no idea what kind of defense is there." Giles explained.

"I like the plan of me going in and killing things." Faith retorted.

"That could get both of them killed." Willow argued heatedly.

"Fine, we do recon until nightfall and then Angel will help us." Buffy decided. "I just hope they can make it that long."

Willow began twisting her hands, "well, it's a human right? How much could a person do to two kids? They can't be to badly hurt." She looked from face to face for reassurance but found none.

* * *

Xander sat on the floor watching Lucas anxiously. The blonde boy hadn't moved since he passed out while they both being tortured by Stark. That was hours ago. He didn't have anything to treat the burns and scraps both of them were covered with. Xander shook his head. "I can't believe you still said no, man. You nearly died three times."

Xander stood and crossed the room. There were a couple water bottles sitting on the floor next to the door. He opened one and took a deep drink. "Well, if these are drugged, I'm too thirsty to care."

Lucas groaned on the cot, Xander walked back to him, crouching by the bed. "Easy, can you sit up?"

"Yeah," Lucas croaked. "Can I have some of that water?" Xander handed him the bottle while trying to check his injuries. "What happened?"

"Uh, if you can't remember it, don't try. It was bad."

Lucas looked over his new friend. "She hurt you too. I didn't want that to happen… but I can't let her kill my crew." He poured some water in his hand and pressed it against his eye. He hissed when it touched the swollen skin. "So do I look as bad as you do?"

"Worse," Xander admitted. "After you passed out… she was pretty pissed off. She just kept hitting you. But she forgot about me for a while, so that was nice."

Lucas snorted, "Well that's good. We're going to die here aren't we?"

"Nope!" Xander answered with a smile. "Buffy will find us and kick her butt."

Lucas laughed lightly. "How do you do that? How do you make it seem like everything is going to be ok?"

Xander shrugged, "It's what I do." He stood and sat on the bed, and made a pained face as he did so. "And you know what they say, 'What doesn't kill you, leaves you bitter and emotionally crippled.' I think that's right…"

His attempt to cheer Lucas up was interrupted by Mark coming in. "Can you both walk?" The boys nodded. "Good, get up. She wants to talk to you again." They slowly stood and managed to follow the demon down the hall. The arrived at the medical room again. Lucas closed his eyes against the thoughts that were invading his mind and went in.

Stark was standing next to a pair of medical beds. "Come in, please. Lay on the bed." Lucas had no choice as his body obeyed the woman. Xander hesitated and copied him. Stark took some bottles and tubes from a small box. She carefully started treating their wounds.

"I think I was too hard on you. Maybe I need to ask nicer." She smiling at both of them.

Lucas regarded her with suspicion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I want to keep you alive. All you have to do is set a false ID for me. Stay here for about a year and I'll send you back. I just need some investments. And you could make some money too. Invent a few things, and you'll be a millionaire when you get back."

"And my crew?"

She sighed, "I guess, if you're good, I won't kill them. Maybe I could be happy with just money."

Lucas nodded, "I'll think about it."

"Good, I'll bring you some food. Why don't you two discus it?" She left, still smiling.

"So?" Xander asked expectantly.

Lucas shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, it will keep us alive. She'll stop with the torture. And it's not like I haven't hacked things like that before. I mean would it be that bad?" Lucas paused for a moment. "I guess I can't stand the idea of her keeping me as a slave for 20 years and using me to hurt my crew. If I know her at all, she'll probably show me off too. It… it'll kill the Captain."

Xander only nodded, unsure of what to say. He fully understood that his life and wellbeing was in Lucas' hands, but he could never ask him to give up the lives of his crew for him. Besides, his life was in danger almost on a daily basis. He would get through this, like he did everything else. Perhaps a little worse for the wear, but alive.

Several minutes later, Stark returned with a few fast food bags. "Nice!" Xander exclaimed. "Doublemeat Palace!" She handed him a bag with raised eyebrow. "What? It's really good."

Lucas put a hand out, "wait Xander." He glanced at Stark. "Is it drugged?"

"No, I just needed to get you out of the house without a fight. I have you now and we're being civil, there is no reason to drug you."

The boys mentally debated trusting her, but their empty stomachs won out. They tore into the bags hungrily. Stark watched with amusement. "So? Have you decided?"

Lucas swallowed the last bite of his Doublemeat Medley. "I want some information before I decide, um… Please."

"Ok, ask away. But, if I don't want to answer, you have to accept that." Stark responded.

Lucas nodded, "agreed. First, what did you do me?"

"It's a long story but I'll try to shorten it. It's a computer chip, somewhat poetic really. The computer genius is being controlled by a computer chip." She smiled at Lucas who stared coldly back. "I found an organization that is attempting to develop mind control chips to deal with violent offenders. I helped them out with what I knew from our time, and they were able to figure out the problems. We made two different kinds, the one you have, Lucas, is purely for motor control. The other one shocks the subject if they attack a person. Classical conditioning for the 21st century, I guess." She finished with a shrug.

"Am I in any danger from it? Is my brain going to boil or something after you let me go?"

"No, it's programmed to respond to my voice. If I don't give it an order, it will stay dormant." Stark explained. "And if it does start causing problems, any surgeon can remove it."

Lucas nodded his understanding. "Alright, so how did you get me here? And yourself? I understand there was magic involved, but did you sell your soul… or mine to one of these demons?"

Stark started to laugh. "No the rate of soul selling is greatly exaggerated. After I escaped from Bridger, I drifted in my escape pod for a while. I finally landed on a small island off the cost of Australia. At first, I thought it was uninhabited since I couldn't find anyone. But, there was plenty of food and I found shelter, so I planned to stay for a while.

"After a few days, I started to search more. I found a series of caves and there were people living inside. They were an ancient tribe of Aboriginals. They welcomed me and I lived with them for about a year. I started learning magic from the shaman, I told him I wanted to go back in time and change my actions. He believed me and taught me how. After I knew how to move myself through time, it was easy to bring you here too. I chose this town because for some reason, magics are very strong here."

"Any other questions?" she asked.

"Just one," Lucas said looking around. "What happened to the Stinger?"

"It's in another room. I didn't do anything to it. I thought you could use the parts from our time to make something here. You can take it with you when you leave."

Lucas nodded, "Ok, I'll help you."

* * *

**Author's Note: If you ask very nicely I may be able to get another chapter done tonight. Help me decide between sleep and writing! Most likely the next update will be Friday night or Saturday morning. I hope you are enjoying reading! **


	8. Chapter 8

"Excellent." Stark said happily. "Where do we start?"

"Um, I need a computer. The best you can find, if possible. I'm not completely familiar with the tech from this time so I may have to improve on it." Lucas explained.

Stark nodded, "ok, give me a few hours. Mark will escort you back to your room and bring you want you need."

The boys stood from the medical beds and followed the red demon back into the hallway. He led them to their room and they were surprised to find another cot with several blankets and comfortable looking pillows. There was also a box of food and medical supplies in one corner. Xander went straight for the food and began digging around. He made a sound of pure joy when he found the basic teenage junk food. He sat on one of the beds and opened a bag of chips.

"Do you trust her?"

"What? Her little bad cop good cop game? Nope, not at all. I'll try to go slow and do a little civil disobedience, but what else can I do?" Lucas reached for the bag and took a handful. "I could leave a trail for someone to pick up on, but I still need her to get me home." He stretched out on the bed and stuffed a pillow under his head. "I'm going to try to get some sleep. If she gets the equipment soon, I may be working all night."

"Alright, I'll… I'll keep eating." Xander stuffed another handful in the mouth. "I wish I had a tv or something though."

* * *

It was dark when the boys were woken by a knock on the door. A demon they hadn't seen before opened it and motioned them out. The followed it's purple and yellow back down the familiar hallway. Xander didn't bother asking about this one's name.

"Thank you Ashtar." Stark said when they walked into the medical room. She pointed to a computer sitting on a desk. "Try it out. It's the best I could get but I'm sure you'll make it work."

Xander stared at Ashtar for a moment. "How may of these things do you have working for you? And what do you pay them with? Kittens or something? I bet it's kittens." Stark rolled her eyes but didn't answer.

Lucas sat on a folding chair in front of it and saw it was, in fact, very good for the time. Xander sat next to him awkwardly. "Ok, I can get started. I'll need a picture of you. No, wait, no digital cameras." He started typing, "oh, never mind, I know what to do…" He trailed off and forgot everything around him.

It only took a few minutes for Xander to grow bored, he stood and started exploring the room. Stark was watching Lucas' work closely and didn't notice him. The demon, Ashtar, watched him with large black eyes. Xander waved and attempted a smile, it wasn't returned. He noticed a small steel bowl with scalpels inside near the medical equipment. Slowly, he turned away and backed towards it. Ashtar still watched him but didn't seem to notice anything amiss. Xander felt the bowl touch his back and he casually twisted his arm around as if he was stretching. His fingers found one of the blades as a radio sounded on Stark's hip.

"We have company boss."

Stark snatched the radio and yelled into it. "What do you mean? Who is it?"

"I don't know yet. It looks like a bunch of kids, maybe some kind of prank or a dar…" The response was cut short by yelling and the sound of bones cracking.

"Damn it!" Stark screamed. She looked to Ashtar, "Secure them to the bed, if they fight, kill the dumb one."

Ashtar advanced on the youths as Stark ran from the room. No one else knew there was blade in Xander's back pocket.

"You heard her," He told them in a deep guttural voice. "Lay down."

"Now, wait… I mean… don't we get a bathroom break or something?" Xander stalled. Ashtar turned his gaze on the boy and shortened the distance between them. He reached out one arm and grabbed Xander by the neck. Xander, in response, pulled out his stolen scalpel and drove it into the demon's eye. Ashtar screamed and let him go. Xander ran to the desk and picked up the chair in front of it. He started beating the demon's head and Lucas joined in, kicking the fallen creature.

After he stopped moving, Lucas and Xander looked at each other breathing heavily. "Congrats, you killed your first demon." Xander informed him.

"Cool, now let's get out of here. I'm guessing the screaming was Buffy's doing?" Lucas asked.

Xander nodded, "probably." He jogged to the door and tried it, it wasn't locked. Both boys left the room and ran down the hallway in what they hoped was an exit.

"Angel!" Xander shouted seeing the vampire enter the hall. "I don't think I've ever been so glad to see you."

They only got half way there when Stark appeared out of a door ahead of them, "Lucas stop!" He slid to a standstill, unable to proceed. "Come to me." he obeyed again. She turned him and pushed him ahead of herself into the room she came from. Xander gave a look to Angel before following, unsure of what else to do.

"Where ya taking them?" A familiar voice asked.

Stark spun around still holding Lucas. "I am leaving, they are coming with me. That is all you need to know." She pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Lucas' head.

Buffy smiled, "Do you think you'll get far? Do you think I'll let you?" Angel stood behind her and morphed into vamp face hoping to reinforce her.

With a cruel laugh, Stark pointed her gun at Xander and released Lucas. "Come here boy, why don't we show this little snot what I've done with your friend." Xander looked between the two women trying to decide if he could help the situation. With a sigh, he walked to Stark. She held the gun to his head and looked at Lucas. "Attack her."

Lucas started running across the room at Buffy. She jumped back surprised, and pushed Angel out the way. He came again, swinging a punch at her. Buffy kept side stepping and blocking his attacks but was getting angry. "This isn't the way to help Xander you know."

Angel grabbed him by the arm and forced him to the ground on his knees. Lucas struggled against him. "What are you doing? We are trying to help you."

"I know," Lucas said huffing. "And I know I don't stand a chance against you, but I can't stop. She has control of my body."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Oh, why didn't you say?" One well aimed kick to Lucas' head dropped him flat to the ground.

Stark started to scream with rage and pulled Xander tighter. "Good job, now your friend will die." She started to pull the trigger but was stopped by a blast of energy emanating from behind her. Willow stepped out of the a door away and Angel took the gun from Stark's unconscious grasp.

"You ok Xander?" Willow asked.

"I've been better." He responded, "you cut it a little close there."

She snorted, "I was trying to give you the chance to be a hero."

"Oh… that's a bad idea."

"You're not wrong…"

Buffy was bending over Lucas. "I think he's coming around, I tried not to hit him too hard."

"That was not hard?" He moaned. He could feel a new lump rising along his scalp. "I'm going to have brain damage if I stay around you people any longer."

They were joined by Giles and Faith, "It's a common occurrence around here." Giles explained looking pointedly at Xander.

"Hey!"

* * *

**Author's Note: I know this chapter is a little short, but I'm need to be at work in seven hours... I'll have more up this week end. Don't think anyone is safe just because Stark is napping for the time being! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Remember that cursing warning in the summery? **

* * *

"So, where do we go from here?" Lucas asked as he winced. Giles was attempting to administer to his injuries, but the bruising was already starting to show and the wounds were scabbing over. The boy would heal, but in the meantime, it was obvious he had been through something horrible.

"Well, the police should have Stark in custody by now, Angel stayed behind to make sure she didn't wake up. And Willow is working on the spell to send you back." Buffy answered, she looked oddly at Faith who was gently tending to Xander's similar injuries.

"Oh, yes… um I'm almost done." Willow had, in fact, been feeding small pieces of meat to her boyfriend in werewolf form. She hurried back to her book and started reading again. "It isn't the one that brought you here. I can't seem to be able to choose exactly when you go back. It will be nearly the same, but a several days later. I think you'll lose the time you were here."

Lucas nodded, "Ok, so I'll have to explain to the UEO I traveled through time because of magic and fought demons… that'll be interesting."

"Um… when will you be leaving?" Xander asked hesitantly.

Lucas looked to Willow, "probably as soon as I can."

"Oh, um…" he stood. "I'll be right back. Don't leave before I get back." He hurried from the library, ignoring the confused expressions behind him.

"Can we do it from the factory?" Lucas asked Willow. "If I leave the Stinger, Katie will kill me."

She nodded, "I think so. I'll start to prepare everything here and take it with us." She pulled out her bag of supplies and started digging for what she needed.

Lucas smiled at the small witch, "thanks." He turned to the rest, "thank you, all of you. If… I hadn't met you. I'd be dead or Stark's slave right now." He could feel himself getting choked up and swallowed. "When I get back, I'll find you and call you, it'll be the first thing I do… Well, actually the first thing will be to get this damn thing out of my head."

"So it is possible to remove it?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, Stark let it slip that any surgeon can do it. Our ship's doctor should be able to. I don't know how much neurosurgery she's done, but she is more than capable." He smiled for a moment. "She'll freak when she sees me though." He looked down at his arms and fingered an electrical burn. "Hell, they all will."

Angel came rushing into the room. "Stark is loose, she got away from the police when they were bringing her out. She did some kind of spell, there was a flash of white light and she was gone. The officers are all dead, there was nothing I could do…" He glanced at Lucas apologetically.

"We will have to do the spell right now." Giles said simply. "Willow, how long will it be for it to take affect?"

"Um, about ten minutes?" She began mixing her ingredients quickly. "But… Xander said to wait…"

Giles sighed, "he'll just have to hurry. He should know by now things don't go our way when we need them to."

Within ten minutes there was energy crackling all around the inhabitants of the library. Lucas was exchanging anxious looked between the door and the small white swirling portal starting to appear. There was the sound of roaring wind filling the large room.

He walked to Buffy and gave her a hug, "Tell your mom I said thank you for letting me stay there… or trying to. And, um, thanks for saving my ass...twice." He said loudly over the wind. He started to turn to Willow but slowed when saw the energy sparking from her hands. She gave him a welcoming smile, and he hugged her as well. "Say good bye to Oz for me, and tell Xander I'll get in touch with him." She nodded and went back to concentrating on her portal, it was widening to the size of a small child. Lucas crossed to Giles and Angel and held out his hand. "Thank you… um… really, just thank you." The older men nodded back to him.

"I'm back!" Xander yelled, running into the room carrying a small bag. "Hey… you said you'd wait…"

"Stark is loose, he has to go now." Giles yelled over the increasing noise.

"Xander," Lucas started. He grabbed the teen in a tight hug. "You kept me alive in there, I can't tell you how important that is to me."

Xander nodded, suddenly teary eyed. "You better find me, I want to check out your ship." Lucas only smirked in reply.

"It's time!" Yelled Willow. The portal had grown to six feet high and was spinning faster.

Lucas stepped to it and gave a last wave to the Scoobies. He stepped in and was nearly deafened by the sound around him. He thought he heard a shout but couldn't be sure. The white turned black and he felt himself falling, it was short lived and he crashed to the floor of his room face first.

"Damn it Willow. I survive all that and _you_ break my nose." He tried to stem the flow of blood with his already gory shirt. "Oh well, what's one more stain?" He looked around for the first time. "I'm home!" Lucas gave a whoop of joy and nearly ripped the door of the hinge opening it.

He hesitated before leaving, he knew he needed Doctor Westphalen, but he badly wanted to see Captain Bridger. A scream made up his mind for him. "Lucas? What the hell?" It was Ben Krieg standing the corridor, staring at him in shock.

"Ben! Listen, I need you to tell the Captain I'm back. It's really important that I get to med-bay."

The tall dark haired supply officer seemed to be unable to speak for several moments. "Jesus man… you look you've been tortured."

Lucas flinched slightly, "I was." He informed his friend before taking off for the med-bay.

The blonde boy ran to his destination trying to ignore the astonished looked he was receiving from everyone he came across. He just didn't have time. If Stark was free in the past, chances were she would be coming for him soon. He burst into the medical office out of breath and began searching for the Doctor.

He found her examining Tim O'Neill, the Lieutenant seemed to have a decent sized cut above his eye. "I know you're upset about Lucas," she was saying, "But did you really have to get falling down drunk with Mr. Ortiz?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." He responded quietly.

Lucas cleared his throat. "Um… Doc?"

Kristin spun around and screamed. Tim jumped up and let loose a string of curse words in various languages. "Lucas? What… where did you come from? What… dear god…. What happened to you?" She sputtered.

"I can explain everything, but I need you do something first. There is a chip in my brain. You need to remove it. If you don't, I may hurt someone." Lucas implored.

"But Lucas, I can't just… I've never done..." The Doctor stuttered.

Lucas turned and lifted up his hair, showing her the incision. "All you have to do is open me up here and look for it." He turned back, "I know you can do this."

Kristin nodded weakly. "Ok, I'll get my instruments. Please lay down." She turned to Tim and gave him a jerk with her head. He understood and started to walk out of the room.

"I already sent Ben to get the Captain, he's probably on his way now." Lucas said with an eye roll. "I'm not crazy. You can do an x-ray, but you have to be fast."

"I'm sorry Lucas, you must understand how this seems. You show up after being missing two weeks looking like… well… like you've been through something terrible, and you want me to open up your skull."

Captain Bridger came running into the room nearly knocking Tim over. "Lucas… oh god…" His eyes were wide and horrified. Tim used the distraction to exit the room and inform the crew Lucas was alive.

Lucas took a deep breath, "Ok, Stark took me. She put a chip in my head that can control my body. It only works with her voice. If you don't take it out me, she could use me to attack any of you, even kill you." His face was turning red, "WILL. YOU. PLEASE. GET. THIS. GODAMNED. THING. OUT. OF. ME?" He screamed.

Bridger and Kristin gaped at him, but the Doctor recovered first. "Yes, of course Lucas."

Lucas gave a short nod and laid down on the bed. "I'm not sure how this works completely. I may start fighting or something when you try to remove it but I don't think so. She said it doesn't work when I'm not awake."

Kristin exchanged a troubled look with Nathan and the Captain approached the bed. "Lucas, you can't be put under for neurosurgery. You have to be awake so she can monitor you." He explained quietly.

Lucas absorbed the information. "Ok, I survived it last time. I'll have to be tied down… again. And promise me you'll knock me out if something weird happens."

"Weird?" Asked Kristin.

Lucas sighed and tried not to lash out again. "Yes, if we're attacked, or someone… shows up on the ship. Anything weird. Promise me, please."

"We promise." Bridger said laying a hand on his shoulder.

Lucas jerked away at the touch. "Sorry, it's been… a rough couple of weeks." He said with a small smile.

Captain Bridger saw the pain through the smile and said nothing in return, he just nodded.

* * *

**Author's Note: I know that's an odd place to put a chapter break, but it'll way to long if I don't. I'll get next one up yet tonight. Maybe leave you a nice cliff hanger... **


	10. Chapter 10

"I think I've got it." Kristin said, finally seeing the micro-chip studded with small wires in Lucas' brain. There was a slight squelching noise and she wiggled it free. She dropped it in the small metal bowl next to her and breathed a sigh of relief, Lucas echoed her from the bed. "I just need to close you up and we'll be done."

As she started stitching the wound, Lucas felt himself relax for the first time in days. The surgery had only taken about 30 minutes with the SeaQuest's advanced medical tools, but he was sure he would hear the alarm signaling an attack at any moment. Now he was finally free of Stark's control.

Kristin undid the restraints on the boy's arms and legs and helped him up. She handed him a set of clean clothes and he gratefully took them. "Alright young man, Nathan wants to debrief you but I'll make him wait until you've rested a few hours. You must let me know if you start feeling dizzy or have problems with your vision. Understand?"

Lucas nodded, "Yes, ma'am." He chewed his lip for a moment and played with the clothing. "Doc… I… I'm sorry I yelled at you before. I just really needed this thing out of me."

Kristin smiled at her young charge, "I realize you were under a lot of pressure. It's ok dear." She left the room to speak with the Captain, who was pacing as nervously as an expectant father.

"I'm done, he's ok. Just give him a moment, I suspect he'll want to change out of the hospital gown. You know how much he hates those things." She put her hand out as Nathan started to open the door. "He also needs to rest. You can visit with him but no interrogating him. That will have to wait." She gave him a severe glare.

"I understand Kristin. It can wait, I don't really care where he was. I only care that he's back and safe." He rubbed a hand through his hair. "What happened to him? I mean, do you really think Stark could have done all that to him? He's just a kid for god's sake." Kristin could only shake her head sadly and watched Nathan go into the next room.

"Hey Kiddo."

Lucas turned his head and smiled as he finished buttoning up his baseball shirt. "Hey. Um… I'm guessing you have some questions for me."

"I'm under doctor's orders not to ask them. When you're ready, I will."

"Good, because you may not believe me if I tell you everything right after someone has been poking around my head." Lucas said with a laugh.

Bridger's eyes took in every bruise, burn, and abrasion on Lucas' skin. He shuddered when he tried to imagine what the boy had gone through. "Was it bad?" He asked gently.

Lucas hesitated. "Yeah… from what I can remember. I guess I passed out and… um… she kept going." He looked away, "I think she's finally lost her mind. I mean, she was bad before… but the lengths she went to…" He shook his head, attempting to erase the memory.

They were both reflecting quietly on what they each went through the last two weeks, when the ship lurched. Lucas stumbled into Bridger and the older man fought to keep the both upright. The intercom started blasting directly after. "All crew to battle stations, we are under attack. Repeat all crew to battle stations, we are under attack."

Captain Bridger ran to the door with Lucas at his heels. He was going to stop the boy, but saw the blazing look in his blue eyes. They both bolted past Kristin and started to the bridge together. They were just outside the clam doors when something hit the ship again, it rocked to port and Lucas went tumbling to the floor.

"Damn it," he swore. He could feel the ripped stitches in the back of his skull. "She is going to kill me. At least I'm still conscious this time."

They entered the bridge and the Captain barked, "Report!"

"We are being fired on by an unknown vessel sir." Ford answered back. He, and everyone on the bridge were eyeing up Lucas. They had been told of his reappearance and how badly he was injured, but nothing could prepare them for what they saw. There were several pained swallows and sickened expressions.

"We barely picked it up on the WSKR's before it started firing sir." Ortiz said from his post. "We keep getting several different readings, it doesn't make sense. It's in one place and then it's gone and it just shows up somewhere else."

"It's her." Lucas said, staring at the screen trying to catch a glimpse of the attacking ship.

"Sir, we are being hailed." Tim called out.

"Put her through." Bridger said, guiding Lucas to his chair. "I want her to see you are here, alive and well."

Marilyn Stark appeared on the screen. "Ah, the esteemed Captain Bridger, how are you today?" She asked sneering. Her eyes widened slightly when she caught site of Lucas. "Oh… good, the little shit survived." Lucas stood and grinned cockily back at her. "Lucas," she commanded. "Strangle the Captain." His grin grew.

"No… you crazy bitch." He reached his hand to the back of head and showed her the fresh blood from the torn stitches on his fingers. "You're too late. It's gone."

Stark stared at him open mouthed and red faced with rage. "Fine," she finally said. "This isn't over, I will not fail again." Her link was cut and there was silence.

"I'm not getting any sounds sir." Tim called. "How can she do that? Just disappear?"

Lucas groaned, "I have _a lot_ to tell you guys…"

He was interrupted by Bridger's PAL sounding. He grabbed it and punched a button. "Bridger here."

"Cap," came Crocker's voice. "We have a security breach."

"Is it Stark?"

"No, sir. It's a male. We're bringing him to med-bay now. He looks like he's almost dead."

"Bring him to the brig, Kristin can work on him there."

"Sir… he's just a kid and he looks like he's be tortured."

Lucas' jaw dropped in shock and he started running. For the second time in just over an hour, he burst through the med-bay doors out of breath. He blinked in shock when he saw the familiar face. "Xander? How?"

Xander grinned back at him sheepishly, "Hey, I told you I wanted to see your ship…"

* * *

**Author's Note: Here ends part one. I wasn't planning to bring Xander in the future but after I wrote the line about him being sucked into a vortex, I just had to. It may be some time before I get started on part two, but then again, I can't wait to see what kind of trouble the two of them get into with Ben around...**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: I own nothing, I just like to play with it…. That sounded dirty…. He he he…. Ahem… enjoy. **

**Author's Note after getting sleep: ^ That's what happens when I get about 10 hours of sleep in 72 hours. I was going to take a break, but there were a few threats from 123Writer so I'm being nice.**

* * *

"I don't understand, how did you get here? Did Willow send you? Did something happen?" Lucas asked rapidly, his astonishment evident.

"Well, um, it _was _Willow, but she didn't really try to. When you left, I sort of forgot to give you something. I tried to catch you but… kinda got sucked into the vortex." He sighed, "just like Giles said."

Lucas started to laugh, "Oh man, he is going to be pissed at you."

"He already is. Didn't you hear him? 'Bloody hell Xander!' I am going to be in so much trouble." Xander ruefully shook his head.

"But why did you show up so much after I did?" Lucas asked, trying to work out what was happening in his head.

Xander shrugged, "The portal was almost closing when I went in, and it seemed like I was in there for a while. Maybe it was weakening, I'm just lucky I didn't end up fighting dinosaurs or something. I landed in a room and when I opened the door, these guys grabbed me." He gestured to Crocker and Shan. "Did you hit the floor as hard as I did?" Lucas nodded with another laugh. "I gotta talk to Willow about her landings."

"Lucas? Would you like to explain who this is?" Captain Bridger's voice said behind him. He was annoyed Lucas took off running after the security breach, but it was very obvious he knew this person.

"Oh, sorry Captain. This is Xander, he's um… from the past?" Lucas made a face in last part of his sentence. He knew how it sounded. "I guess you'll want to debrief me fully now, huh?"

"Absolutely not." Kristin interrupted, before anyone else could respond. "You need rest, and I can see your stitches are torn from here, young man. Your friend obviously has been through as much as you and he needs treatment." She turned to Nathan angrily. "Don't make me pull my medical rank. I want everyone out, now."

Bridger held up his hands in surrender. "I wouldn't dream of it, we're going. I'll leave you to your patients. Lucas, I'll be back tomorrow to get the whole story." He meekly looked to Kristin, "If that's ok."

She nodded and turned to the teens. "Ok, Lucas, let me stitch you up… again. Then it's your turn… Xander, was it?"

Both boys became as meek as Captain Bridger had under her angry stare. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

Just to be safe, Nathan waited until after noon to check on Lucas and Xander. He was surprised to find them still sleeping. Kristin caught his eye and motioned him to her office. "How are they doing?" He asked after shutting the door.

"Better, I checked them thoroughly and they just need time to heal. I informed Lucas that if he tore his stitches again, I would reprogram the chip for my voice and put it back in." She chuckled. "That seemed to work. They talked for quite a bit, but they've been doing what I say."

"Did they explain anything to you about what happened?"

"Some," she admitted. "It seems unbelievable though. I mean, even with everything we've seen on this ship, it just seems so far-fetched."

Bridger nodded, "Have you found out anything about the chip that was in his head? I really want to find a way to prevent that from happening to anyone ever again."

"No, I thought I'd give Lucas the first shot at it. It seems only fair." Kristin answered.

The two adults heard a burst of laughter followed by the sound of good-natured arguing, they left the office to see what the disturbance was. "…no way! At least give me Nightwing. I am_ not_ that whiney!" Lucas was exclaiming vehemently while Xander laughed.

"Um, hello. What are you arguing about?" Bridger asked smiling.

"Oh, hi, um sir." Xander said hesitantly. "I'm sorry, did we get too loud?"

"No, that's fine, what is 'Nightwing'?" Nathan asked.

Lucas groaned, "Uh, well Xander was pointing out that I'm basically your ward here. So he said I'm like Robin… and uh… You're Batman." The Captain raised an eyebrow and Lucas plowed ahead. "I said Nightwing is better… he's Robin all grown up."

"Because of the wunderkind thing." Xander pointed out.

"Uh huh." Bridger smiled. "I think I'm kind of old to be Batman."

"Not with the Batman Beyond universe, Bruce Wayne doesn't fight anymore but he helps with everything else." Lucas explained.

Kristin piped up, "but you can't just combine universes. It doesn't make any sense to the stories… What?" The three men were looking at her in amusement. "I always hated it when shows did that."

"So who am I?" Xander asked.

"Oracle?"

"No way! I am not a girl, my back isn't broken, and my father _certainly_ is not a cop fighting for justice!" Xander whipped his pillow at Lucas who caught it laughing.

Lucas considered as he played with the pillow, "I'd say Alfred, but that has got to be Giles." Xander smirked at the thought. "We can make something up for you… or would that be too lame?"

"Really? This far into the conversation, you start worrying that it's lame? To late man." Xander retorted and the boys broke in hysterical laughter again.

Captain Bridger cleared his throat, "well boys, if you're feeling better… and with Kristen's permission, I think it's time for you tell us your whole story." Kristen nodded her agreement.

"Can we do it in the Ward room?" Lucas asked, "I'd like to show some of the ship to Xander and I really don't want tell this whole thing over and over again."

"Yes, of course, I will gather everyone there. How does an hour sound? That way you can eat some breakfast… or lunch actually." Nathan suggested. The boys agreed and he left the room pulling out his PAL, "Well, I guess I do have a lot of gadgets…"

* * *

Although Xander would have loved to see every part of the ship, they didn't have the time before the meeting. The boys grabbed a quick meal in the mess and Lucas introduced him to the people they ran into. "Whoa… who is that?" Xander asked with large eyes.

Lucas followed his gaze, "Dagwood! Come meet my friend." He grinned at Xander's shocked expression as the G.E.L.F. lumbered over to them.

"Um… Hi, I am Dagwood." The large man said holding his hand out to Xander.

Xander took the hand and tried not to wince as Dagwood squeezed too hard. "Xander, nice to meet you."

Lucas' new PAL chirped and he pulled it out. "Wolenczak."

"Just a heads up Lucas, you have about five minutes until the meeting." Ben told him.

"Shit, thanks! We're on our way. Talk to you later Dag." He put the communicator away and the boys hurried out of the room.

Close by, Mark's eyes followed the two teens. He was still under orders to just observe while Stark finished planning, but he could see the pieces fitting together perfectly.

* * *

The Captain gave Lucas the seat at the head of the table and stood back, Xander sat to the blonde's right and looked around anxiously. Lucas cleared his throat. "Um, I think I'll induce everyone to Xander before I start. He'll probably be helping me with a few parts of the story." The people gathered nodded. They were still having a difficult time looking at the injured teens. They looked happy and were healing, but the dark bruises and burns would take several more days to disappear.

"Commander Ford, Lt Commander Katie Hitchcock, Lt Ben Krieg, Lt O'Neill, and you already know Chief Crocker." Each crew member nodded a hello to Xander as their name was mentioned. Lucas took a deep breath. "Ok, this is going to be long… and strange. Please just hear me out and um… I'll answer questions at the end?"

Lucas paused as he tried to figure out where to begin. "So remember the award I won?" He furrowed his brow, "I should find out if that was all part of the trap…"

"I don't think so," Nathan interrupted. "They called when you didn't show up. That's how we knew there a problem so soon."

Lucas nodded, "Well, that's nice of them. So, I was going to get the stupid thing and…"

* * *

Lucas finally stopped talking and looked around the room. He had left nothing out and everyone was looking disturbed. Ben and Tim in particular, were repressing rage. Nathan put his hand on Lucas' shoulder and the boy tried to suppressed a flinch. "We will find her and she will spend the rest of her life in jail." He said gently. He tried not to think about why Lucas was still jumping at every touch. He knew it would take a while for him to feel completely safe.

"So, this um… witch, she had the power to send you back?" Katie asked.

Xander answered for him. "Willow has become crazy strong. With the books Giles has collected all his life, she can normally find an answer."

"Stark must be using the magic she learned to hide her ship. That's why we couldn't get a fix on her. Ingenious really." Tim said.

"More like evil genius." Ben retorted.

"I… I mean…" Tim tried to explain. "It's just amazing."

Lucas flashed the commutations officer a smile. "It is, I know this all sounds crazy but it's true."

"I'd like to hear about this Slayer." Crocker put in.

Xander nodded, "I'll tell you all about her, it will probably take few hours though."

"So we have a plan? Or do we just wait for her to attack again?" Ford asked.

Nathan sighed, "I'm not sure. We can't find her, we don't even know where to look for her. I don't like the idea of useing anyone as bait but it may be the only way."

"I'm ok with that." Lucas said, looking the Captain in the eyes. "I know you'll keep us safe."

Nathan paused for a long moment, reading what was in Lucas' intense expression. "Ok, then I have an idea."

* * *

The meeting broke up and the boys went back to the med-bay with Ben. Bridger ordered them to never be without some kind of protection. If someone tried something, he wanted to be ready.

Nathan looked up in surprise, he had been so deep in thought he didn't realize Ford was still in the room, until he cleared his throat. "Do you think it will work?" The commander asked.

"I really don't know. We'll do everything we can to keep them from her. I can't stop thinking what they went through. And Lucas did it for us, to save our lives. What do I say to that?" The Captain sighed and sat down. "If she gets ahold of him, or Xander again…" He shook his head, refusing to finish the sentence. "How can one person mess up so many lives?"

* * *

Marilyn Stark looked in the mirror in annoyance. It would take a while for her to get use to this face. The spell she and Mark preformed worked perfectly. She took the place of one crew member as did he. They had the memories of the people and so far no one suspected. The two people they transformed into were hidden in the bowels of the ship in a storage room. Stark thought about killing them but decided they may need them at some point. She liked to keep her options open. She laughed softly when she thought about the meeting she was just part of. Lucas surprised her by telling the whole story and not sparing his friends the amount of pain he survived. They were out for blood and it resulted in the pointless plan. Even if she didn't know about it, she was sure it would never work. "I'm not that stupid, Bridger." She said coldly.


	12. Chapter 12

Lucas, Xander, and Ben stopped just outside of the med-bay after the long meeting. "Um, actually could we run back to your room Lucas?" Xander asked. "I just remembered something."

Lucas considered for a moment, "I really want to check out the chip for a while. Why don't you two go, I'm sure Kristen is inside. I'll be fine." He grinned, "Oh, wait. Actually, I want to introduce you to Darwin and I can work on it there. Will you met me there? Ben will show you the way."

Ben nodded and turned with Xander to leave. Lucas walked into the med-bay and was surprised to find it empty. He went to Kristen's office and found the small chip sitting on the desk. He took it and slipped it into his pocket. As he started for the sea-deck, he heard a noise. Katie came out of a storage room startling him. "Oh, Lucas. I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah, I was just grabbing the chip to check it out. I'm meeting Ben and Xander by the moon pool. He hasn't met Darwin yet." He smiled at the reaction he was expecting when Xander met the dolphin.

"I'll walk you. You aren't supposed to be alone, don't forget."

Lucas nodded, "Thanks. Oh… there's something I have to tell you. I um… lost the Stinger. I wanted to bring it back but when Stark got loose, I couldn't. I'm really sorry. We can build another one. I'm sure Xander can even help."

Katie smiled at him. "I figured that out already. You didn't talk about it again when you told your story. I'm not worried about it. I'm just happy you're home. Now I just hope you can stay out of trouble and live a long and healthy life."

"Believe me, I plan too. Are you ready? They're probably waiting for us." Lucas responded. "What did you need anyhow?"

"Oh, just a few bandages. Lonnie scrapped herself up fixing one of the consoles on the bridge and she's being stubborn about seeing the Doctor about it." She explained.

Lucas chuckled, "I'm glad I'm on medical leave for a few more days. I'm afraid to see what you guys have done to the computers while I was gone."

"You can fix it, you always can." Katie encouraged as they started walking to the sea-deck.

Katie and Lucas arrived outside the entrance of Darwin's moon pool just as Xander and Ben did. Xander was carrying a small bag. "Sorry it took so long to find. It must have gotten kicked under your bunk when the security commandos rushed me." He awkwardly handed the bag to Lucas. "You um… seemed really interested in it so I wanted you to have it."

Lucas took the bag and opened. He laughed when he saw what was inside, and pulled out the Spawn comic book he had seen in Xander's room. "Thanks! This is really awesome. You can't get any copies in this condition anymore."

Ben leaned over and when he saw what it was, gave a soft gasp. "Um, if you ever want to sell that, please come to me first."

"Well, if you boys are going to talk about comic books, I'm leaving." Katie said with an annoyed tone. No one even looked at her. "Right, whatever." She walked away grumbling.

Lucas carefully rewrapped the comic and grinned at Xander. "Ok, now I have a surprise for you." He opened the door and led him into the room. Ben trailed behind and leaned against the wall. He was taking his role as a protector as seriously as he, being who he was, possibly could.

"Wow! That is a big fish!" Xander exclaimed when he saw Darwin.

Lucas snorted, "Darwin is a dolphin." He crossed to the wall and pulled down the vo-corder. "And this is what makes him so special." He paused before turning it on. "He might be a little mad at me." Darwin responded by shooting a jet of water at Xander and the boy could only stand there looking shocked as he dripped. "Or you."

Lucas clicked the vo-corder on and the room was filled with the computer voice. "Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!"

"Yes, I'm here. I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I didn't have a choice, fish-face." He leaned down and rubbed Darwin's melon.

"Did your dolphin just yell at you?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, I warned you, didn't I?" He leaned down to Darwin again. "Are you mad at me? I'm really sorry."

"Where were you?" The dolphin demanded.

Lucas let out a huff. "That is really hard to explain. But I'm back and I'm ok. I want you to meet my friend Xander." He motioned Xander closer to the tank.

Xander slowly peeked over the edge. "Hey… um Darwin."

Darwin regarded him with one eye before answering. "Swim. Now."

Lucas started to laugh. "Well I'm glad he doesn't control a chip in my head, I'd never be able to leave the pool."

He showed Xander to the wetsuits and they quickly changed. "I've never done anything like this. What do we do?"

"Just swim and play, I'll tell him to be careful. He's pretty good about that."

The boys swam for about an hour and, true to Lucas' word, the dolphin was very gentle with them, but they still had fun. Kristin stormed into the room as they were getting out. "Lucas Wolenczak! What do you think you are doing? You just had your brain operated on and now you're swimming with Darwin?"

"Uh oh…" Lucas breathed. "I didn't get my stitches wet. He… just really missed me, and I wanted Xander to meet him."

Kristin stifled her frustration. "I understand that dear, but you could have bumped your head or gotten it infected. You two need to shower and get back to the med-bay. I haven't released you yet." She turned on Ben who was watching the scene with amusement. "And you Mr. Krieg, I would think you would have enough sense to stop them."

He paled, "I… I… um… sorry."

"I wanted to look at the chip yet, Doc." Lucas tried not to whine but he knew it was creeping in to his voice.

Kristin spun back to him, "Tomorrow." She hissed. "You two better be in the med-bay in 10 minutes. Mr. Krieg I expect you to escort us all."

The three miscreants stared at the ground and in unison answered, "Yes ma'am."

* * *

Xander and Lucas were back in the med-bay sitting on a bed, speaking quietly. They didn't want to incur the wrath of the Doctor again. Ben had barely escaped and probably wouldn't be seen in the area for some time.

There was a soft knock at the door, the boys looked up expecting to see the Captain or Doctor coming back. Instead it was Tim. "Hi, um, I just wanted to see how you were doing." He explained.

He sat on Lucas' bed facing both of them. "What's up?" Xander asked, seeing the man hesitate.

"I just… I mean… I just don't understand how you did it." They looked at him expectantly. "When Mariah grabbed me, I only lasted a couple minutes before I sold out the crew." He chewed his lip and looked ashamed. "How did you fight it?"

Lucas struggled for an answer, "I don't know. I guess I'm just stubborn. And… well, Xander helped me. He kept me from going over the edge."

Xander flushed for a moment. "I um… I knew help was coming." He shrugged. "I guess going through it with someone helps too."

"So if you were alone, you don't think you would have lasted?" The boys nodded after thinking it over. "That… makes me feel better actually." He smiled at them.

"I was also wondering if I could ask you a few questions about your friend, Xander. I'm not sure I understand." Tim continued.

Xander shrugged, "I guess."

"Um, Willow? You said she's a witch? How does that work?"

"Oh, well, she just kinda started doing stuff. She read some old books and just got interested in it. After she dealt with one of our classmates who was into witchcraft, she started learning very fast. But she's really smart, she can learn anything." Xander explained. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, um… I don't know. It's just so far from anything I know… I just wondered how it worked. Is she powerful?" He adjusted his glasses nervously.

Xander chuckled, "Powerful enough. I don't know how much higher she can go with it. Sometimes it's kind of scary."

Tim stood and smiled for the first time since he entered the room. "Thanks, I've just… um had all that stuff rattling around in my head for the last few hours." He started to leave but was pushed back when Dagwood entered the room.

"Um… sorry Tim. I did not see you." The large man said.

"No problem Dag, I was just leaving." He gave the boys a wave and scurried out of the room.

Dagwood watched him go and turned back to Lucas and Xander smiling. "I'm on guard duty." He said proudly.

"That's great Dag, I appreciate it." Lucas told him yawning. "I'm done for the day," He glanced to Xander. "You?" Xander nodded and both boys climbed into their respective beds.

"Uh Dagwood?" Xander asked after a few minutes. "Do you want to sit or something? It's kind of weird with you just standing there staring at us."

"Oh… Ok." The large man found a chair in the corner and sat, still staring at the teens.

* * *

The next morning, Kristin woke Xander and Lucas up. "Ok, I am going to release you…" They jumped out of their beds excitedly. "_But,_ you won't be doing any work for a few days yet. You need to take it easy."

"What about the chip?" Lucas asked. "Can I work on it? If I take breaks?"

Kristin sighed, "Ok, but only for a few hours."

"Great! Thanks Doc!" He said gleefully. "Where is it?"

"What do you mean? I didn't move it. You put it on the table next to your bed last night." She said looking around.

The three of them quickly searched the room. "It's gone," Lucas said, panicking. "Someone has the chip."

* * *

**Author's Note: Depending on the season, Darwin's moon pool is on "C-deck" or "Sea-deck" I prefer the latter.**


	13. Chapter 13

"Do you think Dagwood would take it?" Xander asked.

Kristin shook her head. "I doubt it, he was sitting here this morning watching you like I asked him to. After I dismissed him, he got up and left. I don't even know if he would understand what it was. Who else was here?" She asked.

"Um… Tim? I think that's his name. Quiet guy? All jumpy? He came in asked some us some questions." Xander told her. "But there wasn't anyone I didn't know."

Lucas was sitting on his bed silently. He thought it was all over. He knew Stark was still out there, it was always there in the back of his mind. But he truly believed he wouldn't have to worry about a chip in his brain ever again. His mind raced through the time he spent under her control. He heard Kristen calling the Captain on her PAL and tried to break out of his thoughts.

"Bridger." His voice came over the small device.

"Nathan, we have a situation here. Could you come to the med-bay please?" Kristin requested.

"Is someone hurt?" Was his concerned reply.

"No, Nathan. Everyone is fine here, but we do have another development."

"I'm on my way."

Kristin clicked her PAL off and put it in her pocket. "Ok, you boys need to stay here. I know I said you were released, but it's for your safety. This is the most controlled environment right now." Xander nodded and Kristen looked over to Lucas to make sure he understood. He was sitting with his knees pulled up staring at the wall.

"Lucas, sweetheart, did you hear me?" He didn't respond, he didn't even move. "Lucas." She shook his arm slightly but there was no change.

Kristin turned when the door opened. Captain Bridger walked in and looked around. "What's happening?"

"The control chip is missing. Marilyn Stark must be on the ship, Nathan." Kristin explained quickly. She went back to attempting to speak to Lucas. "Lucas, please answer me." She pleaded and shook him harder.

Xander watched worriedly, but felt helpless. "He's freaked. We've talked about … what happened back in Sunnydale since we got here. He said he couldn't survive something like that again."

The Captain sat beside him and wrapped his arm around the teen. "Kiddo, listen to me. She isn't going to get you. We won't let her hurt you again." He leaned in and whispered. "I will personally kill her if she touches you."

Lucas slowly turned his head to look at Nathan. His normally bright eyes were dead and blank. "I can't." He breathed softy. "I won't be able to fight her again. I'll... I'll have to..." He started to shake violently and didn't seem to be able to inhale.

"He's going into shock, lay him down." Ordered Kristin. Nathan complied and Lucas limply let himself be arranged. Kristin slid a pillow under his feet and carefully laid a blanket on top of him. She took his pulse and checked his breathing. "His heart is beating very rapidly, and his breath sounds are strained. If it gets worse, I may have to sedate him."

Lucas started to sit up, fighting the Doctor. "No! Don't drug me. Please! I… I have to get out of here." He struggled against Nathan and Kristin as tears streamed down his face. Xander stepped in and grasped the arm Kristin was holding, she nodded her thanks and ran for a sedative. Lucas screamed in rage and betrayal as Kristen pushed the plunger down.

Lonnie Henderson ran in the med-bay in time to see Lucas' eyes close. "What's happening? I heard a scream. Is Lucas alright?"

"No, he isn't." Nathan said, looking sick. He hated what they just had to do, but Lucas would have hurt himself trying to escape in his blind panic. "Can you stay with the Doctor and the boys? I need to address the whole crew. I want people to stay in groups as much as possible."

"Yes, sir." She answered, she peered down at the sleeping teen with a confused expression.

* * *

Captain Bridger stood on the bridge, the crew quickly gathered there after his summons. "People," he started. "We have reason to believe Marilyn Stark is on the ship. We don't know where she is. You all know what she put Lucas through. I don't want anyone alone until this is resolved. If possible, groups of three or even more. All work, with the exception of vital operations, is postponed. I will have the security team doing random sweeps, please work with them when they come through. Report anything you see if it seems strange. Keep your PAL's on you at all times. Most importantly, be safe everyone."

When he finished speaking, the crew slowly started to find others to create groups with. Mark watched them and smiled at a few who approached him, but shrugged them off. He needed to get away from everyone soon to inform Stark. She wasn't at the meeting, but she had a valid excuse from the Captain.

Ben approached Dagwood, "Did you want to go visit Lucas? I'm sure he's upset and I'm a little worried about him."

The G.E.L.F nodded and smiled. "Yes, I would like that, Ben."

Tim approached the duo, "I would too."

The three men walked into the med-bay to see Lonnie leaning over Lucas, brushing the blonde hair away from his closed eyes. Xander and Kristin were across the room speaking quietly. Xander seemed upset and the Doctor was trying to calm him down. He shot looks from Lucas to the new group that just entered.

"What happened to him?" Ben asked, rushing to his young friend's bed.

Kristin turned to him. "We were forced to sedate him when we found out Stark was here." She shook her head sadly, "He was going into shock and became combative."

"Is he going to be ok?" Tim followed Ben to check on Lucas.

"Physically, yes." Kristin answered. The two men glanced at her when they understood the unspoken part of her reply.

"Um, Dagwood." Xander said, "Can I ask you a question?"

Dagwood looked at him confused. "I think you can. Do you think you can?"

Xander paused, "uh… yeah. So… when you were here last night, did you see anyone come in?"

"Ummm, I saw Tim, and Doctor Kristin."

"Anyone else?" The large man shook his head. Xander sighed, "Ok, thanks."

* * *

"Sir," Ortiz called out. Captain Bridger looked up at the sensor chief. "I'm getting a small sub coming in on the WSKR's."

"Hail them."

"Yes sir."

Nathan listened to Ortiz call out several times and not get a response. "Can you get a clear picture of it yet?"

"I think so sir, one moment." The picture from the WSKR appeared on screen and the bridge crew blinked in surprise.

"It's the Stinger." Nathan said in confusion. "Katie, where is the probe?"

"On the port side sir, I'll bring it around." She had been searching the outside of the ship looking for a possible entry point for Stark. She abandoned her search to address the new possible threat. "Ok, I see it sir." She said after a minute. "I can see someone inside… um… they're waving, and smiling."

"Are they getting ready to dock?"

"No sir, it's just circling around. Maybe there is a problem with it. Lucas said it got a little beat up. Should I guide them in with the probe?" She asked.

"Yes, Crocker and I will meet them." Nathan walked out of the bridge while pulling his PAL out. "Since I have nothing else to deal with right now…" He said bitterly.

Captain Bridger stood outside the air-lock with Chief Crocker, both men were holding side arms. The doors opened, "Keep your hands up and don't move!" Barked Crocker.

They heard a startled squeal from the door way and nearly lowered their weapons when they saw the age of the person. "Who are you?" Asked Nathan.

The small, slender teen tried to adjust a large backpack on her shoulder with her arms raised. "My name is Willow Rosenberg. I think you know my friend, Xander?"

* * *

**Author's Note: This damn chapter fought me every step of the way. I hope it was worth it. I'm just glad it's done. Grumble grumble grumble**


	14. Chapter 14

Chief Crocker holstered his side arm with an annoyed sigh. He glanced sidelong at Captain Bridger. "We really need to create some kind of warning system for this sort of thing."

Nathan nodded, while suppressing an eye roll. "Come on out. We won't hurt you." He put away his firearm as well, seeing no justification for it.

Willow slowly walked through the air-lock and marveled at the inside of the ship. "Uh, hi. I'm here to bring Xander back."

"Of course you are, but I'm afraid now is not a good time. I'll show you where he is." Bridger explained.

Willow giggled but paled when she received a dirty stare from the Captain. "Sorry, you said not a good time… and um… time travel." She tried to look ashamed. "I laugh at inappropriate things sometimes."

Nathan chose not to reply, but motioned her to follow him down the corridor. Crocker followed them closely, there was just too many bizarre things happening for the superstitious Chief to feel comfortable at the moment. He clutched at his latest lucky charm in his pocket, hoping it would do something.

Willow slowed as they neared the med-bay door. "Wow, there are a lot of magics drifting around this ship."

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked, rounding on her suddenly.

"I can feel it everywhere, it's very strong here though." She explained, placing her hand on the wall. "What have you guys been working on?"

The Captain clenched his jaw, "I don't think it's us."

Lonnie opened the door and stopped short when she saw the small group gathered. She gave Willow a particularly long look. "What, are we just shipping weird kids here now?"

"Something like that, where are you headed Lonnie?" Nathan asked with a grimace.

"Oh, um, there's a lot of people visiting Lucas right now. I just thought I'd go to my room. I'm meeting Jenkins there, I won't be alone." She said sheepishly.

"Well you are right now. I'll escort you." Crocker told her sternly.

Lonnie dropped her head and starred at the floor. "Yes, um... sorry. I guess I was being foolish since no one was after me. We can go together."

Nathan nodded his consent and led Willow into the med-bay. The Captain wasn't surprised when he saw how many people were gathered there. Whenever the youngest member of their crew was in danger, everyone felt they had to protect the boy. He moved aside in the crowded room to allow Willow to come in.

"Willow?!" Xander asked in shock. He broke away from Ben and Tim, near Lucas' bed, and ran to her. He picked her up in a tight hug. "I didn't know if I'd ever see you again!"

"Well, we did discus leaving you here for a few years until you stopped doing stupid stuff." She said dryly, when he released her.

Xander laughed softly, "I don't think that would be enough time."

Tim began looking at her with obvious nervousness. He leaned to Ben. "I think I'll go, it's um, getting tight in here."

"No." Willow said loudly, having overheard him. "I'm sorry, but no one can leave. There is something going on in here. I can feel a strong glamour spell. I don't know who it is but there is someone here isn't who they say."

Everyone in the room stared at the witch and unconsciously stepped away from each other. "What do you mean?" Nathan asked.

"I… I haven't ever felt one this strong before, but it's here."

"Do you think you can break it?" Xander asked eyeing her backpack hopefully. "Do you have what you need to do a spell?"

She shook her head, "I actually don't. I only brought what I needed to get us home. But…" she glanced around until she saw someone who looked like a doctor. "You may."

"What do you need?" Asked Kristin.

"Just blood, and maybe something to draw with." She answered, Kristin nodded and disappeared into the supply room. Tim made a disgusted face and started edging to the door.

Ben eyed the retreating figure, "Dag, don't let him leave. Tim, I know you don't like this kind of thing, but it's for Lucas." His eyes slid down to the still sleeping form of the teen.

Dagwood put a large hand on Tim's shoulder and the thin man swallowed with a few twitches. Kristin returned with a couple bags of blood and a small towel in a bowl. "Will this work dear?"

"Yes, thank you." She looked to the people in the room. "Back up a little please, I need to draw this on the floor."

Everyone obeyed and pressed against the walls. Captain Bridger leaned against the door in case someone tried to escape before the spell was competed. If anyone tried to get out, they would have to go through him first. He fingered his sidearm knowing he may need it in moments.

Ripping off an edge of the blood bag, Willow poured the contents into the bowl and dipped the towel in. Kneeling, she began to draw a circle on the floor a few feet wide. Inside of that, she drew a rune that looked like a sharply edged p. After she wiped her hands on the towel, she stood. "Ok, everyone just needs to step in and out the circle."

"And that's what it's all about." Xander quipped. Everyone frowned at him, "Um, yeah, I'll go first." He stepped in and did a little jump out. "Still me?" Willow nodded. "Good, who's next?"

Ben offered his arm to Kristin and they crossed the circle together. Ben recrossed back to the doorway to take Nathan's place. The Captain stepped past him and repeated the act. He joined Ben against the door. The pool of candidates were getting smaller and everyone turned to Tim and Dagwood.

"What about her?" Tim asked, glaring at Willow. "What about the… witch?"

"She just got here, Tim. It couldn't possibly be her." Kristin explained, standing near him. She put a kind hand on his shoulder. "I understand your hesitance, but all you have to do is step across. Why don't you go with Dagwood?"

The large man smiled and laid a heavy arm across Tim's back. "I will go with you Tim."

Tim nodded once and both men crossed the line of blood together. There was a soft popping noise and Dagwood's form faded away. He was replaced by a grinning red demon. Mark swiftly picked Tim up and threw him across the room into the three standing closest to the door. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs. The demon leaned over Lucas' bed and picked the sagging teen up. Holding him with one arm up by the neck line, Mark cocked his head at the humans. "I think it's time for me to leave."

Xander was closest and lunged at the demon. "No, I won't let you."

Mark sneered as he easily pushed Xander away. "I can snap his neck in the time takes you wind up your weak punch."

"I… I don't care." Xander responded stubbornly. "He told me he would rather die than be Stark's pet again."

Willow started to gather energy into her hands, ready to blast the demon if she could. He only smiled at her. "I have to hand it to you, I didn't think your little spell would actually work. You have a lot of potential girl. With the right people behind you, you could rule the world."

"That's not really want I'm looking for." She growled.

Mark smirked back at her. "Someday, you will." He lowered his free hand to Lucas' lower arm. "Well, if you don't care if he dies, maybe you'll care about this." His fingers squeezed and the unforgettable sound of bones cracking sounded throughout the room.

Lucas woke from the sudden pain with a scream. He started thrashing blindly against the agony and the creature holding him. The back of his skull forcefully struck Mark's face and the demon stumbled backwards. His arm loosened it's grip and Lucas slumped to the floor on his knees.

Xander charged forward as Willow blasted her power. They crashed to the floor, neither moving. Willow reached them first, and roughly pushed Mark out of the way. "Damn it Xander, why did you pick that moment to be the hero?" His head lolled to the side when she touched it, but he didn't seem to be badly hurt.

Ben knelt beside Lucas with Nathan and Kristin close behind him. The blonde teen moaned slightly but was still very groggy. Ben carefully lifted him and laid him on the bed. Kristin began checking his arm. "It looks like a pretty clean break. I'll put an inflatable cast on it. He should be ok in a few weeks." She smiled slightly at Nathan who looked like he hadn't breathed in a while.

The Captain nodded slightly and turned his eyes on the red demon crumpled on the floor. "Is he... um... _it _dead_?"_

Willow shook her head as she struggled to get Xander upright. "Shouldn't be. I tried not to hit him very hard in case I got Lucas by accident. And Xander is ok, he's pretty thick headed, but he's not as strong as a demon."

Ben joined her and together, they got Xander on a bed. He looked at the demon darkly and nudged it with a foot. "So what do we do with this thing?"

"I donno, we don't normally keep them alive." Willow said with a shrug.

"That's ok everyone, don't worry about me." A voice said behind them. Tim gave them a dirty look through the blood pouring down his face. "I know I'm not an adorable 17 year old or a red pointed headed demon thing."

"Ah geez, Tim I'm sorry." Ben chuckled. He helped Tim to his feet and picked up his glasses from the floor. "Hey, at least they didn't break."

Tim grabbed his glasses from Ben and slid them into his pocket with a glare. He took the gauze Kristin handed him and dabbed at his head. "Why does everyone on this ship insist on tearing out their stitches?" She asked, exasperated. "Sit, and I'll sew you back up as soon as Lucas' arm is set and in a cast. I want to do it when the medication is still in his system." She turned to the Captain. "Nathan, could you see about getting that _thing_ out my way?" She wrinkled her nose at the demon on her floor.

"Yes, ma'am." Captain Bridger said with a smirk. He pulled out his PAL, "Chief Crocker, can you come to the med-bay with some of your men? And... um... bring some cuffs... and ropes... and anything you have."

When Chief Crocker saw the demon in the med-bay, he immediately spat on the floor. Kristiin shot him an enraged look. "Um, sorry Doc, habit. What is that thing?"

"That's one of the demons Stark had helping her. Just call him Mark, you don't want to learn his real name." Xander volunteered from the bed. He was holding an ice bag to his head and was wincing at the sting. "I think he eats kittens."

Crocker blinked at the teen a few times. Turning to his men, he started barking orders. Soon they had the demon tied up and were carrying him to the brig. "These crazy damn kids, bringing this crap on my boat. What the hell is next?" He asked angrily as the door shut behind him.

* * *

Marilyn Stark did her best not to scream. When she heard Bridger's call on the PAL, she knew Mark had been captured. Now she was alone, she had to act fast.

* * *

**Author's note: My deepest apologies to Tim, whom I forgot about while he was bleeding in the corner until I read through the chapter 3 or 4 times. Sorry he got a little snarky when I found him. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Thank you for being patient with me, this week has been terrible. We lost two loved ones and I ended up in Urgent Care. I really needed to lighten things up so this chapter is just a little bit of fun, and I'm on pain meds, so blame them for anything weird. **

* * *

Slowly, Lucas' mind cleared of the medicinal fog and he started to take stock of himself. He felt the stiffness covering his arm and moved slightly. "Well, at least I'm not tied down. That's always a nice start to my day," he muttered to himself. Lucas brought his arm up and studied the cast while trying to decide just how angry he should be. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Kristin standing here. When he saw her clasping her hands together in a position of pleading, he forgot his irritation, or most of it.

"I told you not to drug me." He said pointedly.

Kristin flushed slightly, "Lucas… I am so sorry. We never dreamed… We thought with all of us here, no one could hurt you."

"What happened?"

She sat on the bed and shook her head. "I'm not completely sure. Somehow, there was a demon on the ship disguised as Dagwood."

"Dagwood? Is he ok?" Lucas interrupted.

"We don't know sweetheart, we can't find him. But Willow said…"

Lucas sat up quickly, "Wait, Willow's here? When did that happen?"

"Um, quite a bit occurred when you… um were asleep." Kristin flushed again. "Ok, let me start again at the beginning…"

Several minutes later, Lucas laid back in the bed. "So where are Xander and Willow now?"

"Willow is with the Captain, they are discussing how best to capture Stark now that she is working alone. And Willow wants everyone to do the de-glamour spell, but it will take some time to organize. Xander is down by the brig with Katie. They are trying to reinforce the cell Mark is in, so he can't escape." Kristin explained.

Lucas nodded and Kristin placed a hand on his shoulder. She pleased to see he didn't flinch much from her touch. "How angry with me are you?"

He sighed, "I know you were doing what you felt you had to as a Doctor, but I'm still kind of pissed." He smirked at her. "May some time with Darwin would make me feel better."

"I think we could arrange that when Xander and Willow are back. Your cast will be ok in the water and your incision is healing well. But, you need…"

Lucas interrupted her again, grinning. "I know, I know, I have to be careful."

* * *

Xander held the extra bar diagonally across the door of Mark's cage as Katie attached it. Mark was inside glaring at the pair of them. "Can you push this tighter here?" She asked, leaning against his arm.

"Um, ok, got it." Xander pressed the top part of the bar to the corner of the door. Katie got very close when she spun the bolt in. Xander tried to look everywhere but at her when he started having an average teenage boy's thoughts.

"There, I think that should hold. He'll have a guard as soon Crocker can spare one anyhow." She looked into the cell angrily. "I should just kill you for what you did." Mark stared back without making a comment. "You're very good with your hands, Xander. Thank you." He blushed and nodded.

Feeling Mark's eyes boring into his back, Xander decided it was a good time to get away from the door. He brushed close to Katie and she grabbed him by the arm. "Xander, I want to tell you something."

Xander's dark eyes widened for a moment, "uh yeah, sure…um what's up?"

She seemed to hesitate, "I'm just really amazed by you. You seem so young, but you have been so brave through this entire thing. I know it was because of you that Lucas was able to last when… That woman had him." She smiled and ran her hand down his arm.

"Well, um… you know… I…I don't really think I had a choice." He stuttered.

"Oh I think you did. I've seen men run from the threat of torture. And from the very idea of the supernatural. You are one in a million Xander. Don't let anyone tell you different." She leaned in close and whispered. "I really like a brave man."

"So do I." Xander breathed, "I… I mean… I like brave women." He ignored the gagging sounds coming from Mark. "But…um, I think I may be too young for you."

Katie's lips coiled into a smile. "Not technically. You were born in 1981, right?" He nodded. "I was born in '82, you're actually a year older than me."

"Oh, is… that a fact?" His breath caught as she leaned in. When her lips touched his and he nearly slammed his head against the wall in surprise.

Katie's PAL chirped after a few minutes, and the two broke apart guiltily. "Yes? This is Hitchcock."

"Katie, if you are done with Xander, Lucas would like to meet him at the moon pool." Kristen told her.

Xander made a grab at the PAL but Katie playfully batted him away. "So he's awake? How is he feeling?"

"He's better, but he is blackmailing me into letting him spend time with Willow and Xander with Darwin. She's on her way there now." Came the response.

"I'm not quite... done with him, but we can… continue later. We're on our way." She clicked her PAL off. "Come on big boy." Blushing deeply, Xander followed her retreating form out of the brig.

* * *

Katie stopped outside the door to the moon pool with Xander, after a quick look around, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You probably shouldn't tell anyone about what happened, we'll get in trouble." She smiled at him, "if you need me… for anything, I'll be with Chief Crocker helping with the security sweeps. I don't want anything to happen to you."

He nodded once and watched her walk away, still in shock. When Xander opened the door, Willow and Lucas were talking animatedly and Kristin was trying to help Lucas get into a wetsuit that she had adjusted to accommodate his cast. Darwin was squealing happily but since the vo-corder wasn't turned on, he wasn't getting a response from anyone. "Hey guys!" Xander said, trying to hide his blush.

Willow turned and gave him a smile. "I can't believe this! We're going to swim with a dolphin! And he talks!" She looked at him oddly. "Are you ok Xander? You seem a little freaked."

"Um… ah, yeah. Just, you know, a crazed day." He tried to change the subject. "So have you met Darwin yet?" She nodded enthusiastically.

Ben walked into the room followed closely by Shan. "Your guards are here, kids. You have the go ahead to have fun." Ben said, grinning at the teens.

He was almost hit by the door when Tim came in. "Oh, um, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was here. I wanted to spend some time with Darwin, but if you are…" He glanced towards Willow and started edging away. "I'll just visit him later."

"Tim, wait, please." Willow called softly. She made her way over to him where he stood looking terrified. "Can we talk?"

"Uh, why? I mean, about what?"

She started to look as uncomfortable as he did. "Maybe somewhere private? In one of the science offices?" He shot a glance around before he nodded and she turned to the rest of the group. "We'll be right back, don't worry."

She led Tim into one of the small offices Kirsten had showed her on a brief tour. There were algae samples floating in beakers and pages of notes on the counter. She leaned against one, "I um… I just want to ask, did I do something wrong? Did I insult you? Or do you just not like me?" Her voice was small and she looked at him with sad eyes.

"What? I… um… no it's…" he took a deep breath and sat at one of the desks, starring at his hands. "It's just that the way I was raised, in the church… um they said that people who practiced witchcraft were evil. Servants of the devil. You … um seem nice and I can see you only want to help your friends, but don't you think you are putting your soul in jeopardy?"

"No, actually I don't. I know it's hard to understand for some people, but it's not what they assume. I don't worship Satan, I don't sacrifice babies. Most witches don't believe the devil even exists, we certainly do not worship him. Wiccans draw power from the earth and elements. We do ask old gods for help often, but not evil ones." She paused, "was it the blood I used? Did that freak you?" He didn't have an answer and she kept talking. "I only used it because I had nothing else and I knew it was strong." Willow made a face, "Trust me, dipping my fingers into someone else's blood is not my idea of a good time. It was actually really gross."

She took a breath, "don't get me wrong, there are people who use dark magic. But with every group of people, there are assholes. The ones who don't have a problem hurting others to get what they want. You can't judge a whole group by a few bad apples."

Tim was nodding, "I think I understand, but it's … just so weird to me. I've never known anyone who did something like this."

"Well, now you do. Does this mean you'll stop trying to run the other direction when you see me?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess." He laughed.

A few minutes later, Tim and Willow exited the office still laughing. "Everything ok?" Kristin asked curiously.

"It is now." Tim admitted with a grin.

"Tim swim!" Darwin demanded.

He crossed to the tank and patted Darwin's melon. "I don't know buddy, it's kind of crowded in there."

"Nah, we're playing sponge football, come join us." Lucas cajoled.

"The teams will be uneven." Tim protested, seeing Xander and Lucas already in the water and Willow pulling her wetsuit on.

Ben snuck up behind him and started pushing him to the tank. "You have a choice, get in a wetsuit or I'll throw you in right now. Have some damn fun for once."

"Ok! Ok! Let me change, geez." Tim finally relented.

Once they were all in the water, Lucas explained the rules. "The clock is the goal, if you take the sponge from the other team, you have to swim to the back of the tank before throwing it. I'll be on Darwin's team and Xander, you'll be with us."

Tim looked disgruntled, "Why do you get three and we only get two?"

"Because I'm injured." Lucas explained. "And Willow can use magic… um, just don't boil the water or anything."

Willow and Tim eyed each other for a moment before agreeing. "Alright, but we get the sponge first!" He dived for the object and the game was underway.


	16. Chapter 16

Kristin truly enjoyed watching Tim and the teens playing their game with Darwin, but after a couple of hours she saw Lucas was starting to tire. She knew he would try to keep going until someone else asked to stop so she stepped in. "Alright everyone, I think that is long enough. You boys still have quite a bit of healing to do and you need your rest." There were no complaints from the happy group and they started to get out.

"So who won?" Xander asked, after they had all changed back to their regular clothes.

Willow shrugged, "I lost count a few times. Let's call it a draw."

"That seems very convenient… since you lost." Lucas laughed. The three teens argued all the way to the med-bay with Tim and Ben chuckling behind them.

As soon as they got the door of the med-bay, they knew something was very wrong. They could see medical supplies strewn through the open door and the room had been ransacked. Shan stopped everyone from going inside. "Ben, with me." Pulling out their sidearms, they quickly cleared the room and Kristin's office. "Ok, it's all clear, no one is inside. It's safe to go in," reported Shan. He pulled out his PAL and left the room to call Chief Crocker as Ben and Tim both took a post beside the door to watch for more trouble.

Kristin and the young people looked around them in dismayed shock. "Why would someone trash the med-bay? They already have the chip." Lucas asked worriedly. "Isn't that the important thing?"

Willow crossed the room to check behind the bed Xander had been using. "My backpack it gone, it had all the supplies I needed to get us back in it. And I brought several majorly old and powerful magic books, whoever it is, they have them."

"It's Stark, who else would it be?" Xander asked in annoyed tone. "What can she do with them?" He knew a lot the books Giles had could be very dangerous in the wrong hands, or his hands.

Willow sighed wearily, "some very bad things."

* * *

Marilyn Stark looked over the stolen books with great interest. She needed a new way to control her captives and the books held a few useful spells. She didn't want to drug them anymore since the depletion of stock in med-bay would be noticed soon. Dagwood in particular was creating a problem. Even with the meds, he had broken out of his cuffs several times.

Now that she was working alone, Stark played with the idea of just getting rid of the G.E.L.F. again. She couldn't shake the idea that she may have a use for him, however. She allowed herself a small smile as she imagined Bridger's face if he were to find the dead bloodied body of his simple crew member. She glanced at the other captive. This one was awake and glaring at her with fury. "Now don't you worry, I'm taking good care of your ship and all your little friends." The prisoner fought against the thick plastic zip-cuffs and screamed curses through the gag.

* * *

"The good news is, we can get them back. The bad news is, if Stark is as skilled as I think she is, she may be able to use them against us, and soon." Willow explained to the others.

"So how can we find them?" Lucas asked her. The potent spell books being stolen by Stark was nearly as frightening to him as the chip going missing. Now that she had both, he forced himself to ignore the terror he was feeling. It would help no one if he started to panic.

"Yeah, do you have a book lo-jack or something like that?" Xander asked, looking around.

Willow refrained from rolling her eyes at him. "Something like that." She paused and thought for a few moments. "I think I remember the wording for the spell. It isn't one that I need anything for, luckily."

"Do you need any help?" Tim asked her, surprising everyone.

Willow smiled back at him, "no, just a few minutes of quiet." She sat on the floor and closed her eyes. As the others watched, she started to mutter. ""Bound and binding; binding, bound. See the sight, hear the sound. What was lost, now is found. Bound and binding; binding, bound." She opened her eyes and looked around. Unseen by anyone around her, there was a faint glowing trail leading from the room. "Ok, I have something to follow."

She stood and started for the door, Lucas and Xander quickly shadowed her, followed by Tim. Ben and Kristin shot each other a concerned expression but went with also. Out in the corridor, Shan was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think we should wait for him?" Kristin asked. She reached into her pocket for her PAL, before realizing it was back in the med-bay.

Willow shook her head, still concentrating on the trail. "No, this won't last long if she notices what I'm doing. This is our only chance, we need to go now." She led them down the steps to the lowest part of the SeaQuest. Most of the corridors were dark and unused here. Even Darwin's aquatubes didn't get down this far.

"The trail is splitting, she must have broken the books up." Willow announced at a fork in the hall. She looked down both directions. "I think it's strongest this way. We can loop back later."

She continued leading the group, but Xander, who was bringing up the rear, slowed and looked the other direction. He thought he had heard something and stopped completely to listen carefully. When he turned back to inform the group, they were gone. He didn't hear or see them anywhere. "Oh, of course." He muttered. Xander considered his options. He knew going off on his own was very foolish, but it was what he did. With a sigh, he jogged off in the way he heard the noise.

Coming around the corner, he ran into Katie and they both went down to the floor. "Oh, Katie, oh man, I'm so sorry. What are you doing down here?" He asked, carefully trying to climb off of her.

She accepted his hand up, "I've been doing sweeps with Chief Crocker, but he was called off to help Shan with something. We've been looking for Stark or our missing people. Why are you here? Alone?" She gave him a long and critical look.

"Oh, um I wasn't a few minutes ago. I kind of got separated from the group when I heard something. That happens a lot." He admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, so who all is down here with you?"

"Um, Willow, Lucas, Kristin, Tim, and Ben. Willow's books were stolen and she's following some kind of magic bread crumb trail to find them." He explained eagerly. He didn't want to be seen as a huge rule beaker by Katie, but he was happy for her to see that he was brave when he needed to be.

She nodded, "I see, we better find them." She took his hand and led him down another corridor.

"Wait…" he pulled his hand loose, "I think I heard that noise again, like some one moaning or something." There was a door directly to his left and he attempted to open it. It was locked. "Can you get in here? I think someone is inside. It may be Stark."

Katie shook her head and tried to pull him away again. "I really don't think that is a good idea, It's only the two of us and I don't want you to get hurt."

He grinned recklessly, "it's kind of what I do. Or it could be Dagwood and he could be hurt. We really need to get in there right away."

"Ok, fine." She snapped.

Xander blinked at the sudden change. "I… I'm sorry, I'm just worried. I know what that crazy bitch can do to a person."

Katie anger melted in to a smile. "Of course, how could I forget? You are so caring, you just met Dagwood and you're already so worried about him." She took a step closer to him and placed a hand around the back of his neck and leaned her entire body into him.

"Um, K… Katie?" With great difficultly, and control, Xander execrated himself. "The door? Um… Dagwood?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. I um… got distracted." She turned back to the door and typed in a code. It beeped back at her and she opened it, letting Xander in first.

He saw Dagwood laying on the floor not moving and rushed to his side. The large man was breathing but in pretty bad shape. On the bed, he saw another figure. This one was facing him and watching him with a confused expression on her face. With a start, he realized it was the same person he came in with. He turned to her, "Katie? What…. Oh… I'm an idiot."

"Yes, Xander, you are." The butt of her handgun sharply hit him in the forehead and he fell to the ground with both Katie Hitchcocks watching him.

* * *

**Author's Note: I know it's a short one, but I needed to do the big reveal. Did I have anyone at all fooled? At all?**


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: Until she's revealed to the rest of the crew, Stark/Katie will be called "Katie" when she is around people who don't know and "Stark" around people who do know. I'll try to keep it from being confusing. **

* * *

Marilyn Stark was surprised just how fast Xander woke up from being knocked unconscious. She had barely finished tightening the zip-cuffs around his wrists when he started to move. "Well, that was quick." She muttered, pushing him away from herself.

"I've heard that before." He said shaking his head, trying to clear it. "I… um mean, I've been knocked out a lot."

"I can tell."

Xander glared at her the best he could while trying to loosen the sharp plastic cuffs behind his back. He could feel them cut into his wrists, and hoped the blood that was starting to run down his hands would help him escape. "So you were Katie the whole time? All that… with us… it was an act to get me to trust you?" She nodded while smiling coldly. "Just once, I want to meet a pretty girl who doesn't turn out to be a homicidal maniac or sociopath." He sighed deeply. "So what are you going to do with me?"

"Well, since you and your little friends keep messing up my plans, I thought I could use you as my next weapon." Stark reached into her pocket and pulled the control chip out. "Now, I'm not a neurosurgeon, but I think I could get it in there pretty easily. The question is how much of your brain I'll mess up when I'm doing it."

Xander struggled into a standing position, if this was his fate, he was going to meet it head on. He kept working on his cuffs and was pleased one was moving half way down his hand, nearly over his thumb. "What good would that do? I have nothing to do with this ship, I'm not strong enough to fight anyone. Why would you bother?"

Stark shrugged, "at this point, I'm just sick you messing up what I want to do. It's like you're off of the Scooby Doo show for god's sake. If I have control of you, you won't be able to. I can use you as a human shield. Or," she smiled cruelly, "it would be some nice psychological torment for Mr. Wolenczak. That kid has been a thorn in my side for a while now."

"So what is your plan?" He asked, hoping she was still in a sharing mood.

She snorted, "well, I guess it doesn't matter now. After I put the chip inside of you, we'll simply walk on to the bridge. No one will think anything is wrong. Then, I will kill the Captain, and probably Ford if he's there. After that," she shrugged, "I'll sell the ship."

"And if I don't let you?" Xander said in his most menacing tone.

"Xander, you're brave, I'll give you that. Stupid, but brave. You won't have a choice. Even if the chip doesn't work…" She trailed off and pointed her gun at him.

"And if I don't care if you kill me? I mean, you're already planning to kill Captain Bridger and Commander Ford, do you really think I'll let you drag me up there and use me like that?" Xander was getting angry now, and he used that anger to mask the pain from his wrists.

Stark shrugged, "I'll kill Lucas. Obey me, and he lives."

Xander sucked in a breath. "I don't believe you. You kept going on about how you didn't want to kill him, now you're ok with it?" He tried to keep his face the same when he gave a particularly painful pull and his hand came loose. He left his hands behind his back and pretended to keep fighting with the bindings.

"I would rather use him. I would rather keep him alive… and just kill everyone he cares about. But if I have to get rid of him, I will."

"I don't get you." Xander said shaking his head. "One minute you want to make the Captain pay, the next you talk about torturing Lucas. You need to figure out who you're mad at."

"EVERYONE! Everyone will pay!" She screamed, getting very close to Xander's face.

Xander used Stark's rage against her. He charged her, closing the small distance before she realized what he was doing. He twisted the gun out of her hand and pointed it back at her. Backing up to the wall to give himself some space, he heard a small noise and glanced down. The control chip had also been wrenched out her hand, and it had landed next his foot. He lifted up one shoe and brought it down. He was satisfied to hear the crunch, at least that much wasn't a threat anymore.

"Now, take the cuffs off Katie." Xander kept the gun pointed at her, while trying to wipe the blood off his hands. He didn't have great confidence in firearms, but he knew how to point it and how to pull the trigger.

"Oh, I don't think so Xander, I don't think you'll shoot the woman you love." Stark said, slowly advancing on him. She gave him a seductive smile, "don't remember how it felt when I kissed you?"

"You have got to be kidding me." He retorted, "When you're sitting in jail, I'll come and explain my love life to you." She took another step forward and Xander was forced to pull the trigger.

Stark was blown backwards by the force of the bullet, she hit the floor and gasped in pain. "You little shit, you actually did it." She pushed herself up and looked at her shirt. There was a hole in it just over her heart. "Well, that would have killed me. Good shot."

Xander was watching her in shock, it was obvious where the bullet hit her, but there was no blood. "Wh… what are you wearing a Kevlar vest or something?"

"No, nothing so simple. My skin is bullet proof Xander, you can't kill me." Stark reached out and easily pulled the gun from his shaking and wet hands.

"What do you mean bullet proof? Is this more magic?"

She laughed, "no actually. A few years ago, scientist started to develop this skin. It involves genetic engineering with goats and spiders. I'm sure you wouldn't understand." Stark lifted up her arm that was not holding the gun, and lovingly looked at her skin. "This is very black market stuff, but it's kept me alive on several occasions."

"Now, first things first, if you would be so good to sit over there quietly, I need to insure your little friend can't find me or fight me." Stark gestured to where Katie was laying silently watching. Xander complied, slumping on the floor feeling defeated. How could he fight someone so much stronger than him? How could any of them?

Stark opened a book sitting on a stack of boxes. Xander could tell it was one from Giles' library. A thought came to him and he blurted out, "librum incendere!"

Instantly, the book Stark was holding burst into flames. She slammed it closed and turned on him. "That was stupid." She picked up the heavy book and held it by the spine, before he could block the blow, she swung it at his head. The back of Xander's head slammed against the wall and he started to black out again. He saw the toe of her boot coming and then nothing.

* * *

Willow waited for Shan to open the door they were standing in front of. With a cry of happiness, she ran to her backpack and opened it. Most of the books were inside. After digging around for a short while, she swore loudly. "She took all my supplies. All my herbs and crystals are gone. And one of the books. Um… crap, the oldest one." She looked back, "There are some powerful things in that one." Suddenly, she gave a cry and doubled over. Kristin rushed to her and held her up. "She… She's taking my magic." Willow gasped. She screamed in pain.

Lucas could only watch, he had no idea how to help Willow. He turned to Xander to ask what they could do for the young witch. After fully turning around twice, he realized his friend wasn't there. He looked to Ben in shock, "where is Xander? He was just behind me."

Ben ran into the hallway, he was conscious of Willow's scream stopping and tried not to think of what that may mean. He looked both ways but didn't see anyone. "Xander!" He yelled. He didn't get a response.

Kristin came out of the room pushing him out of the way, "we need to get her to med-bay." Willow was laying in Tim's arms without moving.

"Xander is missing, we need to find him." Lucas said stubbornly. He started down the corridor but was stopped by Ben.

"We need to stay together. If Stark has him, there isn't much we can do right now anyhow." He tried to explain gently.

Lucas fought to control his rage but finally nodded. They hurried to the stairs and ran to the med-bay. Kristin directed Tim to lay the nearly unconscious girl on a bed. "She's breathing ok, and responds to stimuli." She told them after a brief exam. "I think the magic drain just took all of her physical energy out of her. Let her rest, and we need to contact Nathan."

Ben pulled his PAL out, "Captain, can you come to the med-bay? We have another situation here."

* * *

Xander felt himself waking up again. His eye was swollen shut and he could feel new bruises starting. Stark was gone. He started twisting the cuffs around again, when he realized he was now wearing two pairs and they were much tighter than before, he stopped. His wounds were still oozing blood and he didn't know how much he had already lost. He looked over to where Katie, the real one, was laying. "Um, hey." She nodded mutely, fear reflected in her eyes.

"So, how long was I out?" She gave him an annoyed look. "Oh, right, um hang on." He forced himself to stand and went to her. He knelt with his back towards her and carefully felt for her face. Katie seemed to know what he was trying to do and positioned her head in his hands. Xander grabbed ahold of the edge of the tape covering her mouth and pulled it off. He turned to face her and sat heavily.

"Thank you." She rasped. "Who are you?"

"Oh, that is a long story." Xander said with a sigh. "The short version is I'm a friend of Lucas'. " He stared at Dagwood for a while. "Is he ok? He looks terrible."

Katie shook her head. "I don't know, he kept breaking free and fighting her. She and her friend… um… he looks just like Dag, I think he may be another G.E.L.F., they beat him up pretty bad. Can you tell me what is going on here?"

"I would, but you'll just think I'm crazy and we need to figure a way out of here. She'll kill everyone if we don't stop her." Xander told her. "So... any ideas?"

* * *

**Author's Note: Bullet proof skin is real! They are still working on it, apparently it only works on bullets that have already been slowed down, but it's coming! You can blame my husband for that weird little twist, he told me about it. I know the book bursting into flames is a later season of Buffy, it just makes me laugh every time I see it.**


	18. Chapter 18

Stark ran down the corridor, she had been pretending to visit Willow when she heard the call on the PAL. Every available crew member was searching for Xander now. They knew approximately where he disappeared, and would find him, and the two others, very soon. She was nearing the storage room when she heard voices and slowed to a stop to figure out who it was. It was Lonnie and Tim, they were arguing about some date they had been on and not paying much attention to what was around them.

They came around a corner and Stark arranged her face into a surprised expression. "Oh, I didn't hear you coming. Did you find him?"

"Oh… um… no." Tim flushed. He was sure Katie heard what they were talking about and hoped she wouldn't harass him to much about it later.

Lonnie was much better at hiding her discomfort and gave a smile. "Did you see anything yet?"

"No, I was in med-bay visiting Willow. That poor girl… I just heard the call a little while ago. What areas have you covered?" She asked authoritatively.

"For our section, we only have this corridor left. Not a hint of anything wrong so far…" She trailed off and looked around. "Did you hear something? I thought I heard… banging or something."

Tim turned to a door, "I think it's coming from in here." He typed in a code, but it didn't open. "Hm, Crocker said this code would work on any door."

"Maybe you should get Crocker, I'll stay here." Katie offered.

"I don't like the idea of leaving you alone down here." Lonnie said, "we don't know where that woman is hiding, she could hurt you."

"Can't you override any door with your command codes?" Tim pointed out.

Katie hesitated, "I'll try." She saw no other way to keep the door closed without raising suspicion. If she made them get Crocker, he would just open the door himself. The small storage room was about to get more crowded. She typed in the code and the door beeped it's acceptance. She stepped back to let them go first and pulled her gun out of her holster.

When the door opened, Xander was standing beside a wall ready to jump the first person who came in, if need be. He barely stopped in time when he saw it was Tim. "Am I glad to see you guys! Oh… shit…" His shoulders slumped when he saw Stark behind them.

"Xander? What happ…" Tim started to ask when he saw his freshly bruised face. He saw the disappointed expression on the boy's face and turned to see what he was staring at. Katie had her gun leveled at him. "Katie?"

"She's not Katie, I am. She's Stark." A raspy voice said from the corner. The real Katie was sitting half hidden behind Dagwood's still body.

"I… I can't believe it." Lonnie was inspecting Stark's face, ignoring the gun. "It's perfectly the same."

"I know, I did it. Now, get in and stand against the wall." Stark said motioning with the gun. They obeyed with their hands half raised in front of them." She waited until Xander joined them, and opened a box. She pulled two pairs of zip-cuffs out and tossed one of them to Lonnie. "Cuff him," she said pointing to Tim. "And then come to me."

Lonnie paused and complied, slowly she took one of his upraised hands and slid the cuff on. "I'll be checking them before I leave, I want it tight." Stark informed her. Lonnie scowled and tightened it. She gave an apologetic look to Tim when he winced. She finished and slowly crossed back to Stark. "Turn." She ordered. Lonnie turned and clasped her hands behind her back. Stark quickly slipped the cuffs on her and pushed her away.

"You guys are dropping like flies. A few more and I'll have the whole bridge crew here." Stark said, laughing.

She turned to leave before Xander called out. "Um… Ms. Uh… Stark? Can you possibly do something for me?"

Stark turned back with a dangerous look on her face. "What?"

"Do you think you could uh… change my cuffs so they're front of me?" He said in a pitiful voice. "I'm worried I'm bleeding to death here."

"Why would I care?" She snapped.

Xander considered, "well, if you want to torture Lucas wouldn't it help if I was alive? And maybe if you're nice to me one last time, karma will stop kicking your ass so hard and messing with your plans."

Stark glared at him, "Fine, turn around. Wuss."

Xander turned and heard her open a knife. She roughly grabbed both pairs of cuffs and sliced them off. His arm muscles twinged when he brought them in front of his body. He looked at his torn up wrists with distaste. "Um, do you have a towel or something, so I can stop the bleeding?"

"Use your shirt… big boy." She gave him her cold smile and he couldn't help blushing.

He glanced around to the three women in the room before responding. "No looking." He pulled off his t-shirt and wrapped his wrists the best he could. Stark pulled another pair of cuffs from the box and he obediently held out his arms. She placed them above his elbows and pulled them tightly. Xander grunted from the new pain but said nothing about it, he knew that's what she wanted. "Thank you." He awkwardly adjusted the shirt and sat against the wall beside the others.

"Well, now that everyone is comfortable, I have some work to do. I need to make sure no one finds this room. I'll be back in a little while to escort you all to the bridge. I think it's time for this dog and pony show to come to an end." She sneered and picked up the magic book. "Oh," she turned back, "I almost forgot." She pointed her finger at Tim and Lonnie, and they felt their PAL's fly out of their pockets. "No phone calls. She smirked before leaving the room.

"Do people really go to dog and pony shows?" Xander wanted to know, after the door slammed.

"Xander…" Lonnie started.

"I know, I know, shut up."

She shook her head. "No, I have way to get us out of here, but you need to help me."

He looked at her in surprise. "What do I have to do?"

"You have the most mobility with your cuffs, I need you to reach into my bra…"

* * *

Stark walked down the hall looking for the correct spell in the slightly charred book. She was so caught up in what she was doing, she nearly crashed into Ben and Lucas. "Katie, did you find one of Willow's books?" Lucas asked.

"Oh... yes, it must be. It was on the floor. I can't make heads or tails of it, who knows what... Stark got out of it." She responded. "What are you two doing down here?"

Ben placed a hand on Lucas' shoulder. "The kid wouldn't wait for everyone else to find Xander, I came with to keep him out of trouble."

"That's a good idea, Ben. You are such a good man."

Ben blinked at his ex-wife a few times. "I've always said so. Come on kid, lets get back to Willow, I think we're just in the way down here." He turned back to Katie, "should I bring the book to her?"

"Sure, I wouldn't know what to do with it anyhow." She handed the magic book to Ben and resisted the urge to swing it at him. She didn't have time to take more hostages.

Ben pulled Lucas with him back to med-bay while thinking over the strange meeting. "Something just isn't right with this." He slowed and turned to his friend. "Lucas, I think I have a way for you to help find Xander, we need to go to your room."

* * *

Stark ran to Katie's quarters, things were falling apart quickly. She was alone on the ship, but she had friends that could and would help her if she called them. She turned on her vid-screen and dialed a number. A face appeared on screen. "I need help. Just a few men to help me take over the ship."

"You said you could do it alone if we got you your sub."

"I... I know, but things are going badly. Mark was captured. I can't do it alone."

"I thought you were so powerful."

She spread her fingers and energy sparked around them. "I am, but it doesn't help me drive this beast."

"We'll be in contact."

The vid-link beeped off, and Stark started to curse.

* * *

"No way! I am _not_ falling for that." Xander said, nearly yelling. "You'll try to suck out my soul or eat my eyes or something." He scrambled to cover his face with his arms. "Nope, not doing it. You can't make me."

Lonnie looked at him in shock before sighing. "Tim, you'll have to do it."

The timid man looked just has horrified as Xander had. "Um... why?"

"Really? I ask two guys to reach in my bra and they act like I'm a angler fish." She gave Katie a dirty look when she heard a giggle. "There is a knife in the left cup, all the way over. Just get it."

"Cup? What do you mean... oh..." Tim started to reach up but stopped, blushing. "Um, don't watch me while I do it." Lonnie rolled her eyes before closing them. Tim bit his lip and reached inside her shirt. After some fumbling and a few apologies, he pulled out the small jackknife. He cut Lonnie loose and handed her the knife, refusing to look at her.

Lonnie freed everyone and they started to search the room for something to use as a weapon. "If we could get a gun, I'd love to just shoot her." Lonnie grumbled.

"Won't work, she's bullet proof now." Xander told her.

"Bullet proof? Huh. I thought that was illegal."

Katie gave her an annoyed look, "you really think she cares about something illegal?"

"Oh, I guess not. So how do we stop her?"

Xander turned to her, "I have an idea..."

* * *

**Author's Note: Yeah, I was pretty much giggling for this entire chapter.**


	19. Chapter 19

Lucas pulled back his cast with a pained hissed and his fingers flew across the keyboard as Ben looked over his shoulder. "Got it, there was just a transmission out of Katie's room about ten minutes ago."

"Do you know who she called?"

"Um… it looks like another ship, pretty far away though." He turned to Ben. "This doesn't mean she's Stark, she could just be calling someone she knows."

Ben shook his head. "No, I don't think so, it's too much of a coincidence. Who would she be calling anyhow?"

Lucas didn't respond as he studied the screen. He didn't want to think that Stark had been living Katie's life all this time. It could mean that the Lt. Commander was hurt or possibly dead.

"Can you see where she's put her code in? She must be hiding them in a room only she can get into."

Lucas nodded and started typing again. His computer pinged at him almost immediately. "Wait, she just used her code… She... she opened the weapons locker…"

Ben ripped his PAL off his belt, "Captain, are you there? Captain Bridger!" There was only white noise in response. "She took out the communications." He said in horror.

* * *

Xander and Lonnie ran down the corridor ahead of Tim, he was half carrying a weak Katie and struggled to keep up. "Just leave me here Tim." She argued with him.

"No way, if she says she's not Stark, we need a way to prove it." He answered while breathing heavily.

The four of them stopped outside of Lucas' cabin when he and Ben came running out. "It was Katie!" Both teens shouted to each other at the same time. Lucas flinched when he saw Xander's bruised face. He knew what his friend had gone through, once again, at Stark's hands.

"She's getting weapons." Ben informed them all. "And she did something to the ship's commutations." The now larger group took off running to the bridge. They knew it was where she would strike next.

The five of them ran onto the bridge, but it was clear with a glance it was too late, the false Katie was holding a gun on Captain Bridger. The rest of the bridge crew was watching helplessly. She glared at them when they entered. "Oh goody, you're all here." She smiled mockingly at the Captain. "Now, they all get to watch me shoot you."

"Why are you doing this Katie?" Bridger asked without looking at who had entered. He hoped it wasn't Lucas, he didn't want the young man to have to see this, but he knew he probably couldn't get that lucky.

"It isn't Katie!" Lucas snarled, "it's Stark."

Stark actually gave a sigh of relief. "Well at least I can get my own face back." She made a shrugging motion and her true appearance replaced Katie's. She waved the gun at the incoming group. "Everyone in, shut the door. I don't want any more interruptions."

Xander walked all the way to Stark and stopped in front of her. "Put down the gun." He said evenly. He knew he was probably about to die, but he had to do his part. He had to do something, anything. All of their plans to stop this woman had failed, now he was just doing what ever he could think of.

"Oh, darling, how are your wrists? Better I hope." She smirked at him.

He held up one bloody arm, "why don't you tell me?"

She couldn't resist taunting him again and she reached out to squeeze the injury. He steeled himself against the pain and lunged at the hand she was holding the gun in. They wrestled over it as everyone on the bridge watched in terror. No one wanted to jump in and help in case the gun went off. It did without any outside interference. Xander was pressed tight against Stark when he heard the shot. When he felt the burning spread throughout his chest he did one more act. The knife he had gotten from Lonnie and hidden in his palm, flashed out and sliced Stark's arm deep to the bone. The woman screamed and dropped the gun at the same time Xander dropped to the floor.

"Bullet proof doesn't mean knife proof, idiot…" He sighed as he passed out.

Captain Bridger was the first to react and grabbed Stark in a neck hold, he pressed on her carotid artery until she stopped struggling and went limp. "Get Kristin in here now!"

* * *

Nathan surveyed the small group gathered in the hallway outside of med-bay. Everyone was sitting on the floor and no one was speaking, they were all just waiting. Ben had his arm around Lucas' shoulders as the teen jiggled his leg nervously. Katie was sipping from a water bottle and Lonnie was chewing on a fingernail. Tim was blankly staring into space. "Any news?" Lucas whispered.

"Kristin is still working on him. She's doing the best she can."

"And Stark?" Lucas fairly spat the name.

"She's alive, we wrapped up her wound and she is heavily sedated and under guard. Xander severed the tendons in her arm. I doubt she'll ever be able to use it normally again." Nathan rubbed his face, "Dagwood is stable, he was badly beaten but he'll heal."Lucas only nodded, still shaking his leg. "And Willow is helping Kristin... some how, I don't really understand what she does."

"Did you search her? She was in the weapons locker." He asked quietly.

Nathan flinched before answering, he had hoped to not tell Lucas what they found. "Yes, she had a taser and and ... few of the more powerful grenades. If Xander hadn't done what he did... she would have killed everyone on the ship."

Lucas digested the news, knowing Xander had saved all of their lives didn't help him feel better. "She made a call to another ship too. Is there anyone around?"

"No, I've had Ortiz running sweeps with the WSKR's non-stop. We haven't found anything. If she had back-up, they're gone now." He hesitated before speaking again. "Kiddo, I know you want to be here, but... you can't do anything to help him. I need you to get the computers working so I can call the UEO and get that woman off the ship once and for all."

Lucas looked around at the others. "Ok." He stood, "Ben, come get me if... something happens. Oh... and if he wakes up before I get back, tell him he's Harvey Dent um, before the burns. He'll understand." Ben nodded gravely.

* * *

To Lucas' disappointment, Stark's sabotage to the computers was very easy to fix. "She must not have had much time." He said sardonically. As he fixed the programs, his mind kept wandering back to Xander and everything they experienced together. "If he dies, I _will_ kill her." He swore to himself.

He hit a final button and pulled his own PAL out to try it. "Cap? Is it working?"

"I got you Kiddo, thanks." Was the reply.

"I'm heading back to med-bay, unless you need anything else."

"Of course Lucas, say hi to Xander for me when he wakes up."

Lucas tried to smile at the Captain's optimism, but it just wouldn't come. He sighed wearily and laid his head on the desk trying not to cry. He was so tired and couldn't even remember the last time he had slept an entire night with out medicine or being knocked out. This whole thing was like a bizarre nightmare and he didn't know if it would ever end. With a groan, he pushed himself upright and stood. Sitting here feeling miserable wouldn't help anyone. He slowly walked to med-bay to find out if anything had changed.

The small group was still sitting in the hallway but were now talking softly. As he got close, Lucas heard Tim ask a question. "Um, Lonnie? So, why do you keep a knife in your bra?"

She chuckled a little, "I know it's weird, but I use to use it quite a bit. I don't much anymore but it's a habit."

"What did you use it for?" Ben asked her.

"Oh, whatever I needed, tighten a screw, cut a wire..." She shrugged.

Lucas smiled for the first time since Xander went missing. "Well, I'm glad you still had it."

Kristin opened the door and smiled warmly at the group. "You can come inside now. I'm done."

"And?" Lucas asked nervously.

"He isn't out of the woods yet, but he's better." She took Lucas into a hug. "I believe he'll be fine." Lucas' whole body relaxed and he hid a sob in her shoulder. "Let's go see him."

Kristin led him into the room and Lucas flashed a watery smile at Willow. She returned her own as she played with a blanket covering Xander's still body. He looked very pale and had tubes and wires attached to him under the blanket. "How long until he wakes up?" He asked Kristin.

"It could be some time yet. I had to do a lot of work on him. But, he's young and healthy, he should be awake in an hour or so, but probably not for long. It's important that we allow him to rest." She patted Lucas on the shoulder and left the teens alone.

"I'm sorry this happened, Willow. I... never wanted anything to happen to him." He tried to explain.

Willow shook her head. "Don't, it isn't your fault. Stark did this to him and... well, he's stupid brave sometimes. He's... very protective of the people he cares about."

Lucas pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat next to Xander. "Yeah, so am I."

* * *

**Author's Note: Another short one, but I kinda suck at the action scenes. **


	20. Chapter 20

Xander blinked slowly in the dim light, his chest felt tight and he twisted to ease it. A jolt of pain ripped through him and he gasped. "Oh yeah, that's right." he murmured. He looked around to check out his surroundings. Lucas and Willow were sleeping, curled up together on a bed to directly to his right. They had pulled it over from several feet away and it was almost touching his own. Xander had to smile when he saw Willow's arm wrapped tightly around Lucas' midsection. "Better not let Oz see you do that." He whispered.

Further away, he could see Dagwood sleeping on what looked like a reinforced bed, it was still bending under his weight. As he watched him, the G.E.L.F. opened his eyes and turned to look at Xander. The teen smiled and started to wave until he remember he had never actually met the real person. To his surprise, Dagwood still smiled back. His muti-colored skin was blotched with bruises, but they seemed more healed than they would on an average human.

He heard a noise to his left and painfully turned the other direction to see who it was. Kristin was smiling down at him, "how are you feeling?" She whispered.

Xander shrugged and immediately regretted it. "Sore, and a little groggy." He admitted, grimacing.

"Yes, and you will be for some time." Her eyes became wet with tears and she placed her hand on his. "You saved this entire ship by stopping her, Xander. She had no qualms about killing us all. Thank you."

"You aren't going to yell at me for being stupid?" He asked wryly, trying to focus he eyes on her. He could feel the medication making him sleepy again.

She shook her head. "No, and I don't think anyone here will. They're all much too impressed by your actions, foolish as they may have been." Kristin checked the IV drip and adjusted it. "Go back to sleep, Xander. You need it." He felt the pain medication warming him from the inside and he started to nod in agreement, but he was asleep again before he could finish.

* * *

There were hushed voices around him. "When can I wake him up?"

"You can't, Lucas, he needs to heal. I refuse to allow these stitches to be torn out."

"Well I'm not going to make him wrestle a shark, I just want to talk to him."

"You can talk to him when he's awake, when he's healthy enough and ready to be fully awake."

"Fine."

Footsteps left the room and Xander tried to fight through the fog to open his eyes, he failed and drifted away.

* * *

"Come on, come on, come on." Lucas chanted impatiently, watching Xander's face. He had been sleeping for two days since the shooting. Lucas wasn't expecting him to be able to turn summersaults, but he was getting sick of waiting for him. After a surreptitious glance to check for Kristin, Lucas leaned over and gave Xander's arm a shake. "Hey, wake up." He whispered.

Xander groaned loudly and Lucas jumped back guiltily when Kristin came in. "Is he awake?"

"I um… I think so." He responded without looking directly at her.

Xander opened his eyes and blinked tiredly at the two of them. "How are you feeling?" Kristin asked him.

"Like someone kicked me in the chest and then made me sleep for a few days." He said in a rough voice. "And kind of… floaty and bendy, you have some great pain killers on this ship." He carefully rubbed his chest. "So what happened? I remember fighting her for the gun and slashing her. I'm guessing I got shot, but what is going on now?"

"Yes, she shot you. After you cut her, Nathan restrained her. She was taken off the ship yesterday." Kristin explained. "Your lung was badly damaged when the bullet tore through it but we were able to fix it. You shouldn't have any problems with it in the future."

Xander nodded, "who has Stark? Can they control her? I'd really rather not run into her again anytime soon. I don't think she likes me very much."

"Yeah, Willow and I found some of the people from the Watcher's Council on the 'nex. They said they'll put her and Mark where they can't hurt anyone. And, as an added plus, that means we didn't have to explain any of this to the UEO." Lucas said, grinning.

"Is everyone ok? Dagwood looked like he was in a bad way. Katie... uh... the real one, was too."

Kristin smiled at his concern. "Both treated and released. Willow has been helping to speed up their healing process, she is quite the young woman."

"So I guess that means Will and I have to leave pretty soon, huh?" Xander asked quietly.

Lucas shook he head. "Stark destroyed almost all of Willow's magic supplies. She's trying to get replacements but it'll take some time. She said some of them are very rare." He smirked, "you're stuck here for a while yet man."

"And I don't think you should do any kind of travel, let alone time travel, until you are healed." Kristin put in. "I refuse to allow my patients to show up anywhere in your kind of condition. It will give me a bad name."

"I'm good with that." Xander said closing his eyes again. "How long do you think it will take?

The Doctor considered for a moment before answering, "I'd say at least a week." Kristin gave him a pat and after giving Lucas a warning look he understood well, left the room.

He sat by Xander's bed. "So, um I finally figured something out."

"And?" Was the sleepy reply.

"You're Harvey Dent." Xander opened his eyes and gave him a quizzical expression. "Yeah, uh...before he goes crazy." Lucas sighed and blushed before continuing. "You always try to do what is right even if it may kill you."

Xander smiled briefly. "I don't know about that. Sometimes it's just easier to sacrifice yourself than watch someone else get hurt."

Lucas gave a short nod, "I understand that, but I really think it still stands." He watched Xander's eyes slowly close at the dark haired teen drifted back to sleep. This time, however, there was a smile on his face.

* * *

Nathan knocked on the med-bay door interrupting the three teens when they were talking. "Lucas? Do you have a moment?"

"Of course Captain, what do you need?"

"I was hoping you had gotten a chance to look for information on the control chip."

Lucas stood and pulled his laptop off one of the beds. "Yeah. I didn't find much though. It's like almost everything was covered up." He opened the computer and handed it to Nathan. "There was a government operation that was trying to control the demon population. They developed the chip as part of that."

"Why did it only work when you were awake?" Xander asked.

Lucas shrugged, "I'm not sure. It must have something to do with where it's implanted. It only controls voluntary actions."

"Voluntary? But what about the breathing thing? She was able to make you stop." Xander pointed out looking confused.

Willow spoke up, "that's simple. It's psychosomatic." Xander only looked more confused and she sighed. "Xander, don't think about breathing…" She waited a few seconds. "Understand now?"

"Oh... I get it. That's really mean." He said, after a few moments. "So, will it happen again?"

Lucas shook his head. "I don't think so. It looks like the organization was shut down."

"Well that's nice." Xander said with a sigh. "I'm glad I'll never have to worry about them again. What are they thinking, messing with demons like that? They should leave that to the professionals."

"Like you?" Willow asked sarcastically.

Xander gave her a dirty look, "hey, I've killed my fair share."

"I… I know, you do the best you can." She patted her arm in what she hoped was a comforting way but he only glared back.

* * *

After only a few days, Kristin released Xander with the understanding he would not do anything strenuous and would sleep in the med-bay every night so she could keep an eye on him. He quickly obeyed partly out of pure intimidation and partly for the opportunity to escape for a while. He hurried away to find Lucas and tell him the good news.

Lucas was still on light duty and Xander spent as much time as he could with him. They talked about everything they could think of. Lucas told Xander what bands and movies to make sure he keep an eye out for and which to avoid. Lucas tried to teach him some of what he knew about computers, but Xander just looked at him blankly and they stopped after a short time.

When Lucas was called away to work, Xander worked up the courage to speak with Katie. He was honest with her about what happened with Stark and she was kind enough to not laugh at him. She invited him to work on the Stinger with her and was pleasantly surprised to find out he was actually pretty good with the hardware aspect of the mini-sub. They worked the kinks out and she treated him to a ride.

Willow was splitting her time between the boys and Tim. They were forming a fast friendship, but it was put in jeopardy when Willow turned his crucifix necklace into a nude fertility goddess as a joke. He found it nearly impossible to stay mad at the girl and was talking to her again within hours. He even asked her to show him a few simple charms he could use in daily life.

There was one instance where Ben woke up floating on his mattress in the middle of the moon pool, but other than that, it was a pleasant week for everyone. Although they admitted nothing, several members of the crew congratulated the teens on an amazing prank. Even Ben had to give them grudging respect, and asked just how they pulled it off. The trio only smirked at him and refused to answer.

Ten days after the shooting, Willow entered Lucas' cabin to find the boys. "I have everything I need. And Kristin says you are well enough to travel." They looked at her in shock, it seemed to them like they would had much more time together. "I want to prepare the spell very carefully, so I'm thinking tomorrow?"

Xander carefully put down the music player he was looking at, "I um… I've been thinking. I don't think I'll go back with you. I'm staying here."


	21. Chapter 21

Willow and Lucas looked at Xander in astonishment. "What do you mean? You can't stay here. You need to come back with me." Willow sputtered.

"Why?" Xander retorted, standing angrily. "Tell me please, what the hell do I have to go back for? A school that I'll barely graduate from? A hellmouth that wants to suck in me in every other week? A drunk ass father who can't stand the sight of me? Or you guys, who think I'm a joke?" Xander was breathing heavily and had an expression of pure rage etched on his face.

Willow's face was pale with shock and when she started to redden with her own fury, it was that much more noticeable. "We don't think you're a joke. You see yourself that way. And you don't do much to change it." She snarled. After a moments, the fiery red head took a breath to calm herself. "I… I don't know if I can help the other stuff, and I know it what it does to you … but… but" She shook her head at loss for what to say. "We can try, we can do… Something for you to make it better. Maybe I can find spell or something…"

Xander was already shaking his head, "magic doesn't solve everything Will. You can't just say a few words and make things like this go away."

She looked away guiltily. "What would you even do here? You don't belong here, you belong with us."

"I'll talk to the Captain and he may let me join the crew, if I have to scrub Darwin's tank every day to stay here, I'll do it." He declared evenly, trying not to crack under her pressure. "Katie even said I was great with the Stinger, maybe I'll learn to be an engineer or mechanic."

Lucas watched the two of them fight without saying anything. The thought that Xander may stay in his time thrilled him, but he knew it probably wasn't the best thing. If he stayed, they could be changing too much of the past. He didn't know what to say without making either teen angrier.

There were tears falling down Willow's face, she tried to put her hand on Xander's arm but he shook her off. "Please, you can't leave us. What about Buffy? What will she do without you? You keep everyone sane, we need you." Her next statement was almost lost in her choking sobs. "Wh… what about me? I thought you loved me."

Xander struggled to keep his resolve. "I do Will, but this may be the best thing for me." He finally went to her and took her in his arms. "The thing none of you ever realized is that I have a life outside of you, not much of one, but it's there. There are things I want to do with that life and I think I might be able to here."

"I'm not like you, I'm not like Buffy, or even Oz, I can't keep fighting things that are so much stronger than me. It'll kill me one day. Ask anyone, I'm a few head blows away from staring at the ceiling in a hospital bed for the rest of my life." Xander hoped a joke, even a morbid one, would help his cause. He heard a muffled chuckle and it seemed he was right.

Willow finally pulled away from him. She stopped crying and attempted a smile. "Ok, if you think you need to do this. But there is no turning back. I won't know if you decide it's a bad idea. Once I go through the portal, you'll be stuck here."

"I've made up my mind, I did awhile ago. But if you can, wait a few days. I want to see if Captain Bridger will even let this happen. He may refuse."

"Ok, and it'll give me more time with you. Um… maybe you should write a note or something to everyone to explain why you're doing this." She said thoughtfully.

"Really Will? I'm making a huge life changing choice that may damage the time space continuum and you give me homework? You are such a nerd!" They dissolved into laughter together but didn't notice Lucas wasn't joining in. He was watching them with a distressed expression, trying to decide how speak up.

* * *

The three teens waited nervously outside of Captain Bridger's cabin after knocking on the door. He opened it and looked at their anxious faces with surprise. "We uh… need to talk to you. I want to ask a big favor… um, sir" Xander said hesitantly, his future was riding on the Captain's go ahead.

"Of course Xander. Come inside everyone." Nathan stepped back and the teens filed in, they sat awkwardly around the room and the Captain waited for someone to start speaking.

"Well, ah, you see…um" Xander's words stumbled out and he took a deep breath to try again. "I want to stay on the SeaQuest. I think I could help here and I believe it's a better place for me than my own time. I'll… I'll do whatever job you want. I just really don't want to leave."

"And you're ok with this?" Nathan asked Willow.

She shook her head, "not really, but it isn't about me. If this is what makes him happy…" She swallowed against the lump in her throat. "Then, I'll have to be ok with it."

Nathan nodded slowly, "Give me some time to talk it over with the senor crew. And we'll have to do something about your age. I know on paper you are in your thirties." He looked to Lucas for the first time. "Do you think you could… do something about that? He just needs to be old enough too allowed on the ship… without special circumstances."

"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem." Lucas said quietly.

"What do you think about this, Kiddo?" Nathan asked, noticing the teen should be happier about the situation. He was showing none of his normal exuberance.

Lucas didn't speak for several moments as he fidgeted with his air cast, when he looked up his face was twisted with inner agony. "I don't think he should stay…"

The room went silent at his admission. Xander's face crumpled as he stared at who he thought was his new best friend. "Why not? Why don't you want me here? Do you think I'll do something stupid and sink the boat?"

"It's not what Harvey Dent would do…" Lucas tried to explain before being cut off.

"I don't care, this isn't a comic book. This is real life." Xander snapped.

"I… I know but… but it isn't right. You always try to do the right thing. If you stay it could mess up everything." Lucas paused and gathered his thoughts. "Hell, with what you guys deal with, maybe it's your fate to stop an apocalypse in your future. Some crazy powerful person or creature that only you can stop."

"Oh, am I going to compete with a god using my snark?" Xander spat back. "Maybe I'm sick of being fate's butt monkey. I thought it was time to choose my own way, but if your _brilliant_ mind disagrees, who am I to argue?" Lucas flinched at the anger but didn't respond. Xander turned to Willow, "you better get your stuff ready, I guess I'm leaving. No sense in staying around here any longer." He wrenched the door open and stormed out.

Lucas fought the tears that tried to spill out of his eyes, he looked at the Captain and Willow in misery. "Am I doing the right thing?" They didn't know the correct answer and only regarded him sadly.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: I own nothing, no bands, movies, tv shows, nothing.**

* * *

Xander stomped into med-bay still breathing heavily, and started to gather up the few possessions he had. His hand trembled when he picked up a cd Lucas gave him days earlier. "I thought you'd be happy." He said softly.

There was a soft knock on the door and he turned while trying to rub the tears out of his eyes. Kristin was standing there, "Xander, are you alright? Did something happen?"

"Yeah, I was born stupid." He answered bitterly. He sat on a bed still holding the cd. "I… I wanted to stay here, with all of you. I thought Willow would be the hardest to convince but then… Lucas said I should go back. It's like some kind of sick joke." He shook his head. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, my dear boy, I don't think that you did." Kristin told him kindly as she crossed the room. "You haven't known Lucas very long and you may not understand how he thinks sometimes. Even if he really wants something, he'll usually put it aside if he believes it will affect someone in a negative way. If he said you should go back, he truly thinks it's the best thing for you." She sat on the bed next to him.

"Did he give you that cd to take with you?" Xander nodded mutely, "you should know it's one of his favorites. I even know their music, I've heard it blaring from his room enough times." She smiled, "I tried to explain a band with…. That kind of name probably isn't very appropriate for his age, but I don't think he was worried about it."

Xander looked at the sexually suggestive band name, "I was pretty shocked when I saw it too." He laughed lightly and then a scowl crossed his face. "I guess I was pretty selfish, huh?"

"I think with everything that has happened in the last few weeks, you're allowed to be a little selfish. And you only wanted to be happy, right?"

"Yeah, I'm just so sick of all the shit… um… sorry, everything that happens in Sunnydale. I thought this would be a fresh start kind of thing." He said sighing. "I… I just really want to fit in somewhere, I thought this would be it."

Kristin took his hand, "Xander, please know that I'm not reprimanding you, but you need to remember something. It's perfectly acceptable to deal with your own pain, in fact, it's very important. But you can't forget other that the people around you may be experiencing the same hurts. My guess is that it was very difficult for him to tell you to go. You need to talk to him." She placed her hand on his cheek. "Please don't leave the ship still angry. I know how much that will wound him."

Xander nodded and tossed the cd on the bed. "Thank you, I will." He stood and gave Kristin a tight hug. "I won't leave until I get to say good bye to everyone here." He smirked, "and try to keep me away after not seeing Lucas for 20 years!"

Kristin watched him leave with a small smile on her face. She picked up the cd with a delicate shudder. "Ugh, who in their right mind would ever name a band _Orgy_?"

* * *

Xander raised and lowered his hand several times before finally knocking on Lucas' door. "It's open." He heard from inside.

He stepped inside slowly and saw Lucas laying on his bunk staring the ceiling. "Um, hey."

"Oh, hey… I thought you might be Willow or something." He twisted into a sitting position and focused on the floor. "Did you leave something in here?"

Xander shook his head. "No, I just wanted to talk to you… about leaving."

"I'm sorry, don't let me send you away if you really want to stay. I… I just can't stand to watch you die if something happens on this ship." Lucas picked at his cast, not wanting to look at his friend.

"I know, and you were right. I do need to go home." Xander sat on the bed and two teens didn't speak for a few seconds. "I really don't want to but… who knows what I'll screw up if I don't."

"I'll find you." Lucas promised softly. "Even if you're old and grey, we can still hang." Xander nodded silently. "Wh… when do you think you'll be leaving?"

Xander closed his eyes before answering, "probably tomorrow. I want to make sure I say good bye to everyone. And if I wait any longer, I'll lose my nerve."

"So, what do you want to do on your last night in the future?" Lucas asked, trying to keep his voice light.

Xander shrugged, "I wouldn't mind spending some more time with Darwin, and I donno, something simple and boring. Something we would do if this wasn't hanging over us."

"What about a movie? Something came out a few years ago I think you'll like. It's super geeky, the guy who wrote it is kind of a genius but he's weird." Lucas suggested with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, that'll work, what is it?"

"It's called _The Avengers_…"

* * *

"Wow," Xander said throwing a piece of popcorn into his mouth. "I can't believe they made a good comic book movie. That never happens."

Lucas laughed, "trust me, there a more than a few bad ones too." He clicked off the vid-screen.

"And I can't believe I have to wait almost twenty years to see that again! I should be mad you..." Xander complained. "Got anymore?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow, "wanna stay up all night?"

"Obviously," Xander snorted. Lucas turned the screen back on and started searching for another movie.

* * *

The next morning the boys stumbled out of Lucas' cabin with red eyes, Willow gave them an amused but annoyed look. "You didn't go to bed did you?" They shook their heads ruefully. "Of course not. I'm almost ready. Uh, Captain Bridger asked me to get you. He's gathered everyone on the bridge."

Lucas and Xander swallowed and nodded. She led them to the clam doors but stopped just outside. "I'll give you guys some time before we all need to go in." She hugged Lucas tightly, "if you don't contact us right away, I'll turn you into a frog you know."

He laughed loudly, "I wouldn't dare not to." He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "Keep him safe, make sure he does't do anything too stupid." Willow nodded and walked on the bridge. Lucas turned to Xander, "so..."

"Yeah."

"Is this going to get mushy? I'd rather not." Lucas said chewing his lip.

"I don't think we need to." Xander clapped a hand on his back. "I uh... guess I'll see you in twenty years?"

"Not for me, I'm going to look for you as soon as you step through the portal."

Xander groaned, "I'm really getting the raw end of this deal aren't I?"

"Sorry about that." Lucas said with a half smile.

"Don't be, that's how it normally works." He pulled Lucas' cd out of his back pocket. "Are you sure you don't want to hang on to this for a few minutes? You could forget to give it to me and..."

Lucas started to laugh, "I really think that would be a bad idea."

"Yeah, probably."

Captain Bridger walked into the corridor, "Kiddo? It's time." The teens smirked at him. "I know, I know, I said time and it's time travel. Come on, I'm a little worried Willow is going to overload everything on my bridge."

Xander exchanged several hugs with the crew gathered. He blushed ferociously when Katie gave him a kiss on the cheek. He nodded one last time to Lucas before turning to Willow. "Ready?"

"Yes," she grabbed hold of his arm. "I'm just making sure you don't get lost." They stepped through the portal and vanished from sight.

* * *

**Author's Note: I cried a little when I wrote this chapter. There is an epilogue coming, possibly tonight. **


	23. Chapter 23

**Epilogue**

* * *

Lucas blinked when the portal closed with a pop and bright flash of light. "You ok Kiddo?" Nathan asked him.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not happy, but I know I'll see him soon… if nothing happened." He forced a smile on his face, "Permission to go bug him, sir?"

Nathan laughed, "of course. I'll call you if we need you."

Lucas nodded and slowly walked to his room. He tried not to think of what could have happened to Xander in twenty years. "He'll be alive." He whispered, opening his door. He wearily sat at his small desk and turned on his laptop.

He started a basic search first, just typing in Xander's full name. To his relief, no death notices came up. Lucas found a construction company link and clicked on it. After double checking the phone number he punched it into his vid-link and waited, holding his breath.

"Thank you for calling Harris Constr…. Lucas?" Xander's older face stared back at him in shock. "Wow, has it been twenty years already?" Xander shook his head in amazement and smiled broadly.

"Hey, so you're alive and stuff." Lucas said eyeing him up. He had aged and there were a few silver strands of hair mixed with his brown. There were several lines around one eye. The other was fully covered by a patch. "Eye patch huh? That's pretty bad ass. Is that to get girls?"

"Oh, I wish. Someone kind of ripped it out. It's a long story." Xander grimaced, rolling his good eye.

"Ripped it out? Who did you piss off? Some crazy hell demon?"

"Uh… no, actually. A preacher. But he _was_ crazy and trying to end the world." Xander said looking sheepish. "You were right by the way. I did need to come back. I had to help stop an apocalypse a few times. Once all by myself."

"Tell me about it, what kind of monster did you kill?" Lucas implored.

"Not a monster…uh… it was Willow." Lucas' jaw dropped and he went pale. "She's ok now. I'll give her your information. She's away on a second honeymoon in Ireland with Kennedy." He explained hurriedly when he saw Lucas' face.

"Oh, so her and Oz didn't work out? I thought they made a nice couple." Lucas asked feeling relieved.

"No… um… and Kennedy is a girl… I mean a woman. Willow went through a lot of changes when she got into college."

"Huh, didn't see that coming." Lucas said, looking surprised.

"None of us did, not even her." Xander retorted dryly. "I saw a few news articles about you when you were growing up all smart and stuff. I really wanted to come see you then but everyone said it would be creepy."

Lucas chuckled, "yeah, that may have freaked me out a little. So what else happened in the last twenty years?"

Xander sighed, "Got a few hours?" Lucas grinned and settled back to listen.

* * *

They talked for hours before Lucas started to yawn. "Oh that's right, I forgot we stayed up all night before I left. I'll let you go to bed." Xander said, smirking. "It was worth seeing the movies though."

Lucas nodded sleepily. "I have your contact info, so I'll let you know when you can visit."

"Sounds great. Talk to you later Lucas." Xander gave a wave and the vid-screen blinked to black.

Lucas stood and started to cross to his bunk when this vid-link chirped at him. He considered ignoring it but decided it may be important. He sat again and clicked it on. "Where in the sea have you been Frankie?" Wolfman said, glaring at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I saw your email… it's just been an insane few weeks. Um, can I explain it later? I'm exhausted." Lucas said apologetically.

"Yeah, of course. Are you ok?" Lucas nodded and moved his hand to cut the link. "One thing first…" he paused. "Any idea why my dad randomly sent me an email a month ago to say hi to you? I didn't know you had ever met him."

"Your dad? I don't… oh… oh, of course. I can't believe I didn't figure that out. Yeah, ok, I'll have to tell you the whole story right now I guess…"

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow, I can't believe I'm finally done! I had a lot of fun writing this and am strongly thinking about doing a sequel. I really hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I am planning to go back over the next few days and do some editing. Nothing major will be changing, I just want to make sure everything works nicely. Thank you for reading and reviewing.**

**I'd like give a special thank you to 123writer for letting me bounce ideas off of her without her running screaming when she heard some of them. You rock woman! **

**I'd also like to dedicate this story to the two people we lost while I was writing it. Grandma G and Phil, you were awesome people and you will be loved forever, thank you for all you did.**


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